Wicked Serve by Grace Reilly is a college sports romance that will keep readers hooked from start to finish. The story follows Nikolai and Isabelle, whose budding relationship is complicated by their ties to rival sports teams. Despite the obstacles in their way, their chemistry is undeniable, and readers will find themselves rooting for their love to prevail. The writing is engaging and filled with emotion, making it easy to become invested in the characters' journey along with its blend of sports, romance, and drama.

This college romance between a Russian American hockey player and American Volleyball player is the perfect mix of sweet and spicy, with a dash of serious sprinkled for good measure.

Our main characters get together fairly quickly in this book, and the getting together is not meant for those who only watch Hallmark romances. The problems start small, like hiding their hookups from friends and family, and then move on the the larger but still realistic ones.

Trigger warnings are needed, especially for DV, abuse, and mental illness. There is still a HEA at the end of it.

The only reason I did not like this book as much was because the pace was far too slow for me to enjoy. Others may still enjoy it though.

I thought this book was really sweet. I enjoyed the characters and how fleshed out they were. I thought their chemistry was fantastic and so believable. I loved the way they treated each other and cared for each other. I thought the outside conflicts were just as interesting and affected their relationship in a realistic way. The pacing was also pretty effective. Even though these characters already know each other when the story begins, I was just as attached and invested in their story together.

When I started reading, this felt like a sequel with info dumps about past characters. I looked up the book, and sure enough, it’s book 4 of a related series of standalones. I thought if I powered through the first bit, it would feel more like a standalone—or I’d at least be caught up. Unfortunately, after finishing chapter 12 (19%), I still feel like I am missing a ton of backstory to be able to invest and things that happened in the past that seem like they need more context just keep coming up and being mentioned like we are supposed to know what’s up. I’ve decided to stop for this reason. I feel this will be best enjoyed by those following the series as a whole. For those who have read prior books, I’m sure this will feel like a warm hug coming back to these characters. They’re an easy three to four stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC.

Forever in love with anything Grace writes but this is absolutely my top favorite from her so far! I LOVE LOVE LOVED everything about this.

Was so excited for Izzy's and Nik's story and it didn't disappoint. Loved having the other Callahan siblings and significant others involved too. This storyline had all the motions from anger, hate, disappointment and of course love. So happy I didn't have to wait for the official release. Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy. #NetGalley #WickedServe