Wicked Serve by Grace Reilly

Wicked Serve (Beyond The Play #4)
Author: Grace Reilly
Published: August 2024
Publisher: Avon
Format: ARC eBook
Pages: 448
Rating: 4/5

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

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.

Rekindling our fling could risk her brother icing me off the team—not to mention the fact that my scarred past makes having a real relationship impossible—and yet the moment I see Isabelle again, all my wild, burning feelings come rushing back.

Izzy

I have two goals for sophomore year: win back my old volleyball position, and forget I ever knew devilishly handsome hockey defenseman Nikolai Abney-Volkov. As the youngest and only daughter in a family full of athletes, failure isn’t an option.

But when Nik crashes back into my life, I can’t stay away from his broody charm. I’m determined to guard my heart this time, but between the furtive hookups and the heartfelt conversations, the lines between friends-with-benefits and more begin to blur.

As we fall deeper into a place we can’t come back from unscathed, we’ll have to make a choice: fight for a future together, or watch it go up in flames.

Filled with swoons, spice, sports, and koalas, Wicked Serve is a don’t-miss new adult college sports romance.

Review:

First, I'd like to thank Valentine PR for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. Now I do think part of my feelings are just bad timing to read the book. Sometimes that happens but I do think that the reason for my 4 stars is because the last 10% really elevated the book and had me on the edge of my seat compared to most of it.

That being said, I did struggle through the middle part of the book. It really felt like all there was in it was spice and Izzy trying to figure out what is going on with Nik. Don't get me wrong, I love spice as much as the next person, but to me it almost felt like filler to the very important topics of their back story. Personally, I think the book could have been trimmed down and you still would have had a great book and story between Izzy and Nik.

What I really loved is how even though Nik transfers to Izzy's school, and her brother is forced to play nice with Nik, that as time goes on... her family becomes his. Slowly but surely they begin to blend into one big family and clearly it's something that Nik has really been missing a lot of. The fact that they are all there for one another, even if it has to be through a phone rather than in person. That's what it means to show up for family, which he clearly was not getting at home.

Nik's dad deserves a hot pillow at night, to stub his toe at every corner and to have the day he deserves. That man is awful, and while he tries to play off as someone who loves his son, it's so clear that there's more to the story which we uncover earlier on as the reader, but get the full experience towards the end.

I do think this story picked up at the end of this book. All the things that we were wondering what was going to happen, happened. The forbidden aspect of Izzy and Nik was discovered at like 60% so I knew something had to happen, but didn't expect it all to be quite so far towards the end. This however did have me on the edge of my seat, wondering what was going to happen and reading it pretty quickly! I really loved how things turned out at the end, Izzy and Nik's story finished off perfectly and oh so sweet.

For Nik's backstory, I won't get into it too much because that'll just spoil things, but I do think it's an extremely heavy topic that I would have liked to have read more about. It's a pretty big factor into his life and the way that he is, so why not play into those emotions more?

Overall, this was a good story, and it could have just been a wrong time for me. I did like the aspects of volleyball and hockey as both characters play sports. I would have loved to have read a bit more for Izzy with volleyball, but there was so much more to it than just her and sports. I do think mid way the story lagged for me and I felt like it could've been cut short, because that ending really had me enjoying the rest of the book!

That's all for my review, I hope you enjoyed it and check this series out... you just may love it!

So until the next time, keep reading!

Your Graduated Bookworm! :)