I’m slightly confused about my own feelings with this book- I came for the silly lil hockey romance, but the part I actually liked was Nikolai’s journey of self-acceptance and growth!

Isabelle and Nik’s journey to being together was quick, faced few obstacles, included some very inspiring doses of open and healthy communication, and was essentially settled before the halfway point in the book. Their biggest stressor being her older brother being his new teammate was so easily overcome, I was overjoyed at the lack of toxic brotherly masculinity! I was very thrown off by the extravagance Nik showed her- and those definitely took me out of the story!!

Once that part was essentially wrapped up, we were taken on a journey with Nikolai coming to terms with his relationships with his father and grandfather, handling (and mostly mishandling) panic attacks, and working to become the best version of himself for Isabelle. Isabelle, meanwhile, is dealing with comparison to her athletic family and juggling school, a job, and playing volleyball which I can’t even tell if she likes??

Overall, this was a mostly fun read and an enjoyable world, even without having read the other standalones in the series!

Thank you to Grace Reilly and NetGalley for a chance to read in exchange for an honest review!

Overall: 4.5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plotline: 4.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Tropes: F/M Romance; Hockey; Friends-with-benefits to Lovers; Brother's Rival; Hockey x Volleyball; Grumpy/Sunshine

Themes:4.5/5
Romance: 5/5
Spice Factor: 3
Enjoyment Factor: 4.5/5

Review: This is probably my new favorite Callahan Siblings book. This one felt the most raw and emotional from both sides. I became so invested in Nikolai and Izzy's individual story arcs and their romance. There was never any miscommunication, which was refreshing, as they constantly told each other how they felt and why they felt that way. Nik was a perfect grump MMC, and Izzy was the ideal comparison. Their banter was immaculate, as were their spicy scenes! It was shocking but in the best way

If you’re in the mood for a sports/college romance where a woman falls for her brother’s rival, *Wicked Serve* by Grace Reilly might be just what you’re looking for. The idea behind the story sounded great, and I was excited to dive into it. The whole rivalry aspect had a lot of potential, especially with the tension it could bring to the romance.

But, honestly, this one wasn’t for me. The book felt way too long, and there wasn’t enough happening to keep me hooked. The constant back and forth between the characters got old pretty fast, and I found myself getting bored most of the time. It’s a shame because Nik’s character was actually really interesting—his backstory and personality had so much going for them, but the story just didn’t deliver in a way that kept me engaged.

I can see how some people might enjoy the slow burn and the relationship drama, but for me, it just didn’t hit the mark.

I am so sad that this was the last of the Callahan siblings books, but at least it was a great one! Nik and Izzy are a fantastic couple, there is so much sneaking around, a secret relationship with her brother's rival, found family, hockey and volleyball, and plenty of SPICE! But this one also brings a lot of childhood trauma and abuse to the table, meeting with a girl who seems confident but secretly has never felt like she's enough in a family of all-star male athletes. They have things to work through, and their relationship can't stay a secret forever. But there is a real lack of drama, there are no misunderstandings or miscommunications here. And honestly, I loved that. It was so refreshing. It was just two people trying to navigate a relationship in college.

And maybe there is even a koala.

"My sunshine girl."
"If I'm sunshine to him, then he's the earth beneath my feet, the grass between my toes, grounding me like nothing else."

I've really enjoyed the 'Beyond the Play' series, and I was so excited for Isabelle's storyline! As the youngest child, and only sister of the Callahan family, she is definitely that girl, but I found it much more endearing than obnoxious! I looved the sunshine vs. reserved MMC take this book takes. All I want is to hug Nikolai and be friends with Isabelle. I was worried where this book would go with how quickly they were together, but I stayed pleasantly entertained throughout it all and just thought it was a great ending to the series for all four couples (I loved Isabelle doing Bex and James wedding!)

"She made the world fall away all summer, and she's doing it again right now with each kiss and each scratch of her nails down my back."

🩵College Hockey MMC x College Volleyball FMC
💙Brother's Nemesis, turned bestie?
🩵Friends with Benefits
💙Broken Boy x Sunshine Girl
⚠️DV exhibited by MMC's father

Final Rating: 4⭐, 3🌶️

Thank you Netgalley, Avon and Harper Voyager for an eARC of Wicked Serve by Grace Reilly. Also, thank you SO MUCH GoodReads for offering an ARC giveaway of this book which I won! First time owning a physical copy of an ARC. and I was so elated! This is my honest and unpaid review!

Wicked Serve started strong for me. I loved that it got straight into the story and the connection was already developed. But then, that is all we got. A whole lot of sneaking around and this was the only part of the plot.

The book was way too long as it felt like a whole lot of dialogue and not enough of a plot going on. I think looking back now, we would have been better off reading about their meet cute as it would have developed the plot further.

I DNF’d at 44% as I felt like I was just reading the same thing over and over again. I didn’t find myself reaching for it.

He's her brother's biggest hockey rival and she's the volleyball player that is off limits... yet what was only suppose to be a summer fling turns into something more when he transfers to her college hockey team and is determined to keep their situationship going... but she's a romantic at heart and wants more... that is if he is even able to. Nikolai lives and breathes hockey, his entire childhood his abusive father trained him to be the best until Nikolai finally left the Russian hockey team and moved with his mom.. yet after an incident with his team where he covered for his teammates, he is expelled. So Nikolai makes a deal with his grandfather: if he is grandfather helps him get into the college and play hockey he'll give up hockey after college and take over the family business. There's just one teeny tiny hitch, Isabelle, the girl he's in love with whom he had a summer fling with and the very same little sister of his former hockey rival and now new teammate/captain. Nikolai and Izzy are magnets but have decided to keep their a relationship a secret... but the longer it goes on the harder it gets to hide. It doesn't help that Nikolai's father is breathing down his neck and he hasn't told Izzy about any of his family issues. Izzy is also struggling to keep lying to her brothers and the fact that she is meant to be focusing on her position as a volleyball setter but feeling like she isn't good enough. Both Izzy and Nikolai are so supportive of one another and dearly love one another, and the steam is great in this book. I had a lot of fun reading it and yeah it did feel a bit long, like 100 pages too long and it could have been shortened because the drama in this book did not warrant that much time. However, overall I had fun, the spicy scenes were great, and the romance was a happy one.

Release Date: August 13,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Nikolai and Isabelle have a summer fling which ends when Nikolai returns to Massachusetts where he is completing his final year while Isabelle is based in New York, a sophomore at McKee University.

Nikolai gets into trouble causing him to be expelled. He ends up joining McKee University and this brings him back into close proximity with Isabelle. Soon, they renew their fling as a “Stress relief pact” when they are both actually way more attached than they are willing to admit.

As they navigate their secret relationship, other issues also come their way. Will they be able to resolve them together or will they be forced apart? Read this to find out!

Though this is my first time reading this series, I am immediately drawn into the close-knit Callahan family. When an accident brings them all together, it was heartwarming to see how this beautiful family reacts and cares for each other.

My ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. When I was approved to review this book, I took the opportunity to catch up on the first 3 books in the series which had been on my TBR list for a while. They are all enjoyable in different ways and this was another good installment. They are out of Callahan siblings and it was wrapped up well with updates 5 years down the road for all of them so I assume this is the final book. I look forward to reading whatever comes next from this author.

🏐 synopsis:
A secret summer fling was all it was supposed to be, but suddenly Nikolai finds himself forced to transfer to Mcakee where the captain of the hockey team just happens to be the brother of Isabelle his ray of sunshine from the summer.

Izzy was trying to focus on winning back her dream position on the volleyball team while trying to forget about her got summer romance. But then Nik came crashing back into her life. She isn't sure she can keep her feelings secret for long

🏑My thoughts:
I absolutely adored this spicy college sports romance! I enjoyed that both main characters played a sport and had their own struggles with team dynamics and balancing the demands of trying to succeed. It also dealt with mental health issues and relationship struggles. the Callahan family and partners from the previous books all made appearances as well as adding in new characters from Nikolai's family.
⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

🏐 Forbidden love
🏑Secret relationship
🏐Found family
🏑Sports romance
🏐Grumpy/sunshine
🏑 Teammate's sister
🏐Open door spice

I liked this more than I thought I would. There was some good mental health discussion and I liked the characters. I did think it was a little long and the middle seemed to drag on but it didn’t detract from the story overall. I do think the author should have aged up the FMC as there were a lot scenes she was drinking outside of parties or whatever in a way that seemed unrealistic for an 18/19 year old.

Wicked Serve is book 4 in the Beyond the Play series by Grace Reilly and it is the absolute best spicy brother’s rival hockey romance story! I had the best time devouring this book!
I liked both of the MCs a lot and really enjoyed their energy.
Nik and Izzy's chemistry was off the charts!
Their chemistry was so beautiful. I’m such a character driven reader and they stole my heart right from the start.
Reilly has written extremely likable and relatable characters, it was the perfect blend of romantic, funny and sexy.

Thank You NetGalley and Avon for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Ugh!! Can this book be everything I needed and MORE! I realized it was part of a series when I saw some of the characters have been developed, but the Callaghan clan are literally the best family Ever.

Aside from that, let’s get to the real thing, the story Izzy and Nikolai, I tried to stay away from romance novels that the characters are college students, but I loved how adult concepts were incorporated in their lives, and how they developed in them, was amazing, I love how the author did that, There were real life problems in this relationship. But again, going back to their relationship, from the beginning, it gave me all of the amazing vibes of what a summer fling is. These two have the most steamy chemistry, it was too much fun to read.

Like I said I never read the other books but I loved how this one ended, overloaded with HEA’s.

✨ARC review✨

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

“𝐼𝒻 𝓈𝒽𝑒’𝓈 𝓈𝓊𝓃𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑒, 𝐼’𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝓊𝓎 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓈 𝒾𝓉 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓉𝓈 𝓇𝒶𝒾𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔”

He’s her brother’s biggest rival in hockey and the summer fling no one can ever know she had. She’s the sun he never knew he needed and the one person he shouldn’t be with.
After the perfect summer, both Nikolai and Izzy reluctantly return to their normal lives; Nik returns to Massachusetts to finish his last year of college Hockey before hopefully playing in the NHL 🏒and Izzy returns to McKee University with only 2 goals: get her positions as setter back 🏐and forget she ever met Nikolai Volkov. Things get complicated fast when due to an unfortunate circumstance Nik ends up at McKee University playing with his biggest rival, Izzy’s brother. Will Izzy and Nik let everything and everyone else keep them apart or will they go against the odds and choose each other ?

Wicked serve had me completely entranced from start to finish! As a girl who was obsessed with Anastasia as a kid and also grew up in Canada, Nik is like crossing Dimitri with the hot hockey player from High School (ifykyk 👀)
I loved the complexity of both Izzy and Nik’s characters as they both struggled with figuring out who they were as individuals and not just the sister/child of a famous athlete. And the chemistry between these two ?!?!🔥🔥🥵🥵 I couldn’t get enough!
This story also tackled some intense topics such as mental health (panic disorder) and physical/mental abuse and they were done with so much tact but please read the Trigger Warnings before reading!

Here’s some more of what you can expect from Grace Reilly’s Wicked Serve:
🏐Brothers rival 😏
🏒”Good girl” 🤤
🏐Sports romance (🏒x🏐)
🏒Family trauma and drama
🏐Mental Health Rep
🏒Sneaking around
🏐Possessive MMC
🏒Found Family
🏐Book 4 (interconnected stand alone)

I want to thank both NetGalley, Valentine PR and the author for the opportunity to read this book early in exchange for a honest review 💕

This is the fourth and last book in the Beyond the Play series with the Callahan family. I’m going to miss every single one of them, including Izzy and Nik. This was a fantastic varied sports series about a family I would love to be a part of. Each set of stories was unique but existed naturally within the family.

We’re dropped into Izzy and Niks story at the end of a summer fling. This makes the start of the book a little jarring but not in a bad way. Just getting on a rollercoaster which releases you into a drop instead pulling you up the incline one forbidding click at a time. We are free falling from the first moment. I was a super cool way to start a story.

The dual POV is fantastic and I think nuance would be lost without understanding where each of them is coming from.

Nik is the perfect sad damaged self-loathing protective deeply loving rich boi. He has a lot of relationship trauma he needs to work out. He reminded me of Luke Ryder (in the best ways possible) but was also a totally separate character. His Russian side is great and I loved his adaptability. Plus the way he treats Izzy is easy to swoon over.

Izzy is a classic youngest child and the only girl with three professional athlete brothers giving her a large dose of sass to be able to stand up to them and imposter syndrome. I loved her energy and how she supports everyone in her life.

We get to experience their relationship evolve a ton throughout the book, something I truly love. Both characters have significant growth moments as well.

The cameos are top notch. I am so happy to see Cooper and Penny featured quite a bit, along with all the other Callahans and Tangerine! I do wish the epilogue was a smidge longer just because I am a glutton more not because it wasn’t enough.

As for spice, this is not the spiciest book in the series. The scenes are great, very well written, lots of adventure and detail. Only complaint is that there weren’t more.

This is the first book I have read by Grace Reilly, and I am in love. The characters are well written, and you cannot help but fall in love and root for their happy ending. The book was fun, spicy, and heartfelt. It even made me tear up a few times. Nikolai and Izzy were perfect for each other. I really enjoyed watching them support each other and fight for each other's happiness. I adored Izzy's relationship with her brothers. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this book, and I am excited to read this author's backlist.

“If she’s sunshine, I’m the guy who hopes it never starts raining.”

Wicked Serve was a delight to read. Isabelle and Nikolai are so refreshing together and I loved the way their relationship developed so organically. They were so good together.

“I don’t want to stop falling, not when it comes to her.”

This was so much more than a secret relationship story. It was a story about a healthy couple who communicate their wants, needs, and insecurities and supports each other in their life goals. Full of spicy moments, flirty banter, and heartwrenching emotions, I immensely enjoyed Wicked Serve. This was my first book by this author and I will be checking out the rest of this series.

4.75/5 stars

This hockey-college romance was such an enjoyable read. It was quick to read and had a great balance of plot and spice. When it comes to Nik and Izzy's chemistry, it's there from the start, reflecting their previous summer fling (wish we got to see more of it, it could be a fun novella). I think what makes this book so entrancing is how human/ realistic their college struggles were. Also, the complexity of Nik's relationship with his father and hockey is fascinating to see develop.

SPOILER AHEAD: What I liked about the third act break up was it wasn't one. They were taking the space from each other so Nik could get the help he needed so they could truly be together.

I thought this was a super cute completion to the Callahan family stories! I loved Nikolai and Isabelle so much, and we got to spend lots of time catching up with the other siblings and their partners.

Am I the only one who never starts a series from the beginning? Or is that just me? I always spot these cute covers and then realize they’re part of a series. But even though I didn’t read the first books, I didn’t feel like I missed anything. It actually made me curious about the other books!

This was a cute and funny story following Isabelle and Nikolai. I enjoyed how they were introduced and how the story picked up from where the prologue left off.

I had a great time reading this book. Isabelle is very determined and wants to excel in everything she does, while Nikolai has a lot of problems and trauma to work through.

I loved how there was minimal miscommunication between them. They talked about everything and tried their best to respect each other’s decisions. However, I felt that sometimes Isabelle was a bit pushy with Nikolai, always urging him to share things he clearly wasn’t ready to discuss. If the roles were reversed, she would probably have been upset.

I also think the book could have been a little shorter. Since they were together for most of the story, we mainly saw them being a cute couple, which was nice, but I needed a bit more drama.

Overall, this was a fluffy read. I enjoyed the family moments and how Nikolai and Cooper went from enemies to besties, giving Nikolai someone other than Isabelle who had his back.

Thank you, Valentine PR and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this ARC.