If you loved the other books in this series, you’ll love this one. Though you don't have to read the others in the series, there are some reoccurring characters but the background of their stories doesn’t really impact this one. I think the family dynamic is very well explained in all the books. Izzy intrigued me from the moment we met her in the previous books. I was very interested in seeing where and how her book would go especially because I did love the others.

Izzy and Nik were spectacular from the very beginning. They had me rooting for them right off the bat. I loved how well they balanced each other out & you could see that right away. I loved how even though they weren’t together, Izzy showed up for Nik. They TRULY cared for one another. Izzy was such a sweet, beautiful character to read. From glimpses we get in the other books, she comes off as a little shallow so I was so glad that she had depth and felt very real. I loved seeing her getting her Callahan tattoo. It came at perfect timing in the book.
Nik was so heartbreaking to read. Like Izzy, he’s really easy to love. And you really root for him to get his happy ending and just rooting for his happiness. I loved him.

Everything about this book was so good. The length was perfect for me. I felt like it didn’t drag on too long but wasn’t too short. We got just enough of Izzy and Nik’s history. The secret relationship portion was the perfect length. Everything felt natural. I love the way Grace Reilly writes family dynamics and how relatable & real they are. With that, she handles them delicately and with such a careful, graceful hand and with the issues in this book that was really needed and done perfectly. I loved seeing the development of Nik and Cooper’s friendship, especially seeing them be true friends and seeing Cooper show up for Nik.

I loved reading this book. I loved this series. I’m so sad to say bye to the characters, but I’m very excited to see what Grace Reilly is going to give us next. Whatever it is, it’s already on my must buy list.

Thank you IMMENSELY to NetGalley and Grace Reilly and everyone included for my receiving of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

3.5⭐️

This is the 4th book in the Beyond the Play series by Grace Reilly. It's not necessary to read all or even in order, but just keep in mind that characters from previous books do appear in the succeeding ones.

Wicked Serve tells the story of Isabelle and Nikolai who met and had a summer fling in New York while Isabelle was interning for Nikolai's mother's company. It is clear early on that there is a strong connection between them. What more but Nikolai is also the rival of her brother - they play for different hockey teams and have had previous altercations.

What I truly appreciated about this book is the amount of respect and support that Isabelle had for each other. Despite both dealing with their own traumas and insecurities, they never failed to show up for one another.

If you love sports romance and you're looking for a fun, quick summer read, this book is for you.

I love hockey romances and this one was good! However, this one was a little too much for me. I wish there wasn’t as much sexual content at the beginning and more time to fall in love with the characters or perhaps more substance about them. I wanted to love this one so much!

This book was fantastic. The relationship without any toxicity and them supporting each others dreams and making sure they were happy. Plus always love a hockey player!!!

Grace has become an auto read author for me and this book did not let me down. I love to see healthy relationships portrayed and Grace always does them so well. I loved diving back into this universe to learn more about Nikolai and Izzy. The best way I can explain them as a couple would be fun. They seem to have so much fun and bring out the best in each other. I loved Nikolai so much. He was sweet and spicy at the same time. He’s so thoughtful but that mouth? Okkaayyyy. On another note, the way Nikolai and Izzy were able to communicate and dive deep into their traumas and insecurities so so lovely to see. They truly make each other stronger and we love to see it!

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC


This book was so cute. I loved all the support and encouragement from both of the main characters.I enjoyed their interactions and just how you can feel their love.

My only problem I had was the short chapters but then the book was so long. Felt at times it was dragging to make it longer.

To be honest I’m regretting not reading the others in the series but will definitely start!

3.5 stars rounded up.

Isabelle had a summer fling with her brother's hockey arch nemesis, Nikolai. After he ghosted her when they went back to their respective colleges, Isabelle tried her best to forget him. Until Nik ended up having to transfer to McKee, where Isabelle goes. They have a secret romance behind her brother's back and start to have deeper feelings for each other.

I've loved all of Grace Reilly's books so far and Wicked Serve was no exception! Nikolai and Izzy had such a precious and respectful relationship. Izzy helps Nik deal with his childhood trauma in such a tender way, while he supports her own struggle with self-worth (in very extravagant ways, I might add). This book is definitely not 100% grounded in reality but no book where both protagonists are wealthy children of sports celebrities is going to make complete sense. You do have to just go along with some of the story line and pretend 20 year olds are actually this emotionally mature. Overall, it's a fun read but also has some depth with Nikolai's story.

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

3.5 ★
this book had its flaws but all in all, it was a cute fluffy read and i enjoyed it!!

💌 plot 💌
this story follows nikolai and Isabelle, who have just been in a summer fling. they know they can’t be anything more because nikolai is her brother’s rival and he would freak out. but is that really gonna stop them?? obviously not.

🌧️ flaws 🌧️
this book should not have been 400 pages i’ll be so real. like not bc i think that’s too many pages, my favourite sports romance series windy city are all about that long. but it just didn’t feel necessary whatsoever. It felt like the author had made a mission to get this to 400 pages but for no actual apparent reason so she just filled the book with random unnecessary scenes. I still really liked it but I found myself growing bored and skimming a lot unfortunately.

🩷 what I loved 🩷
what I did enjoy though was the lack of stubbornness and misunderstandings. usually with any forbidden romance, there’s a lot of “we shouldn’t do this” or ”this was a mistake”and i do enjoy it sometimes, the angst, and this did have a few of those scenes but not to the point where you wanna punch the characters in the face.

I really loved seeing Bex and James from book 1. they’re married now with a baby and everything and ugh it made my heart so full <333 they’re forever my favs !! (and the only other couple’s book I actually read HAHA

🌸 overall 🌸
this book was super cute and lighthearted, and the spice was good, so if you’re in the mood for an easy cute read, maybe pick this one up!! I absolutely adore Nikolai and Isabelle.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review !!

📚Wicked Serve
📝Grace Reilly
🗓️ Aug 13 2024
📝 Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon


Genre:
Contemporary romance, sports romance
Series or standalone:
Beyond the Play # 4
Tropes:
❤️ ice hockey / volleyball
❤️ brother’s rival
❤️

⚠️: domestic abuse, alcoholism, disordered eating, panic disorder, cheating, explicit sexual content
POV
First person, dual

💭 Summary 💭
Isabel and Nik met on summer break and had a summer fling. When Nik doesn’t stay on touch, Izzy is disappointed but life goes on. Until Nik is transferring to the hockey team of her college. On top of that, Nik is the arc nemesis of her brother…

Cover:
I said it many times, comic covers are not my thing, but apparently they are growing on me. I actually enjoy this one! The hockey / volleyball theme caught my interest right away.

Heroine:
Isabelle Callahan
Hero:
Nikolai Abney-Volkov

Location:
Fictional university of McKee, Moorbridge, New York, USA 🇺🇸

Fluency/Writing:
This was a quick and steamy read, I quite enjoyed it. I haven’t read the previous books and could read this as a standalone. While the spice was nice, it could t carry the book by itself. The characters had chemistry, but they fell flat in other departments.
I guess this can be considered a quick summer read, but at times it dragged too much for me.
While I liked the lightness of it, it had a serious undertone and dealt with some serious issues. All in all, this was a mixed bag for me.

🌶️: 3/5
😭: 2/5
❤️: 2,5/5
⭐️:3/5

⭐️Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced copy. All opinions are my own, I was under no obligation to review.

Nikolai and Izzy have great chemistry. They give off an enemies to lovers vibe since Nik is her brother's number one hockey rival. The two of them have great banter, sweet moments, making for a really fun read. I was worried this would be a cookie cutter hockey romance that is taking over the romance book sphere, but it was different than what I was expecting, and in a great way. I am tempted to read other books from Grace Reilly because of this one!

Wicked Serve is a quick and steamy read with all the college sports romance tropes. Nikolai and Isabelle's chemistry is undeniable, and their forbidden romance is full of angst and tension. However, the characters are somewhat underdeveloped, and the plot relies heavily on familiar tropes.

Overall, this book is a fun, easy read for fans of the genre, but it lacks the depth and originality to make it truly stand out.

I need to read all of this authors books. I loved this, literally gobbled it up in less than 24 hours. I’m really into hockey romance this year and this was one of my favorites so far. I love secret romance and brothers rival. So good! I got this book as an arc from NetGalley.

Wicked Serve is the 1st book for me by author Grace Reilly. I was drawn to the cover and the blurb but once I started the book, I was captivated by the summer relationship of Nikolai and Izzy. It was easy to see how attracted they were to each other and the fun they had when they were together. As the book progresses and they end up in the same place, the challenge begins as they struggle with emotions that pull them together and the circumstances that push them apart.
I was also excited to see that they both were athletes in different fields. He is a hockey player and she plays volleyball. They both had dedication and drive to do their best plus they realistically understood each other's commitments. Nik and Izzy carry hidden feelings that affect their growing romance and Grace Reilly exposes the revelations gently and respectfully. Nik, who carries a deep trauma, is truly swoon worthy, with abundant confidence both on and off the ice.
Izzy is a golden girl whose personality is full of light, genuine empathy and more talent than she can see. She is the youngest and the only girl in her family and she struggles with insecurities concerning her place in her family.
I really enjoyed this book and the author did a wonderful job showing how Nik and Izzy grew personally and as a couple. My only frustration was that it was a bit long and some of the chapters didn't seem to flow into the other. This is the reason I gave it 4 stars. One the other hand, the chapters were shorter in length so that made it easier to take reading breaks I am a fan of the dual POVs because it allows the reader to get in the head of the character. Wicked Serve also had a bit more spice than I expected with many varied scenes. Nik also has a naughty mouth an that Izzy loves!
I want to read the other books in Grace Reilly" Beyond the Play Series. I believe that this is the last book of the series but it is a great stand- alone!
I received an advanced reader copy and I am leaving a voluntary review based solely on my reading experience!

This was so fun! I loved Isabel, she's so sweet. And I loved how complicated Nikolai was, and I'm constantly amazed at how well adjusted all of the brothers are. It's wonderful to see sex positivity among siblings instead of macho beat your chest stuff. Will be sad to say goodbye to the Callahans.

Wicked Serve is the 4th installment in the Beyond the Play series by Grace Reilly. It features Izzy, a volleyball player for McKee U. And Nikolai, a star hockey player at UMass. The story starts with the reader witnessing Izzy and Nikolai’s summer romance. At the end of the summer, they go their separate ways, but a scandal gets Nikolai kicked out of UMass and transferred to McKee U. Their torrid summer affair becomes more permanent. This book was okay. I didn’t realize it was part of a series, but I feel like Reilly fleshed out the characters nicely so I didn’t need to read the other books to understand their stories. This book is steamy but very long. It dragged badly and I was bored. It could have easily had 100-150 pages cut to become a more cohesive story. A bright spot in the book was I didn’t realize all the serious issues that would be discussed. Check trigger warnings because it talks a lot about domestic abuse, childhood trauma, alcoholism, and panic attacks are featured heavily the last quarter of the book. This helps it become a more solid book and less of a fluffy hockey romance. Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collin’s for the chance to read this book. Wicked Serve releases 8/13/24.

I didn’t know what I was getting into at first because this was actually my first Grace Reilly book and it did not disappoint. It was a quick, fast paced romance that I devoured in a single day. Both main characters were easy to fall in love with and the pacing of the story was quick and easy to follow.

dnf @ 6%

nothing personal i just couldn’t get past “you really haven’t seen legally blonde?” “isn’t it old?” “you did not just call my favorite movie old.” “i’m pretty sure it came out before either of us were even alive.”

call me an old hag, why don’t you.

i might try again.

A college sports romance with a brother’s nemesis-turned teammate combined with a summer fling turned secret romance (?) tropes. That would have been plenty for me, honestly, but adding in a history of domestic abuse, a business mogul grandfather, and some subtle domination was too much for me—it became really unrealistic and just a hair tedious. Strong writing and I liked the Callahan siblings enough that I’m still curious about the other books in this series.

This sexy new-adult sports ball romance focuses on volleyball player Izzy and her brother’s hockey rival Nikolai. They’ve secretly hooked, having a delightful no strings attached summer romance during Izzy’s party planning internship with Nikolai’s mother; when he is transferred to the college Izzy and her brother attend, if they want to keep seeing one another, it has to be on the downlow. Nikolai’s overbearing, toxic, Russian hockey star dad and Izzy’s volleyball playing trajectory add more drama to the secret romance, and the mental health theme adds another level of depth and compassion to the story.

While some might write off this sports romance as new adult fluff, the truth is that Reilly excels at creating warm, authentic, characters; pitch perfect college-age dialogue; complex situations; and passionate, hot, detailed sex scenes. Wicked Serve delivers much of the same in the Beyond The Play series, but it’s compelling, and ultimately successful, if a little fantastical in both chemistry and outcomes.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #WickedServe by Grace Reilly.

This book was a hockey romance with a brother’s rival love interest. I liked the concept and I don't mind a secret relationship, but the pacing was off. I couldn't really get a feel for what the plot was supposed to be. I found the spicy scenes were getting in the way of any plot developing. I was getting bored with them because of how often they popped up. I think you would like this book if you're a fan of Icebreaker by Hannah Grace because they have similar vibes.