Reviews

This is the second in the interconnected standalone college hockey series about the Boyd University Falcons in Massachusetts. I somehow can't seem to remember much about Offside, but remember loving it. I definitely recommend reading these in order, but you certainly don't have to if one trope or another isn't for you.

This one was much shorter than Offside, but read just as quickly, and may actually be much better.

This one is teammate's sister who moves in with three guys from the team. Chase Carter, the MMC from Offside, who is the older brother; Dallas, the dependable teammate who is already in a stable relationship with Siobhan who we met in the last book and now lives with Bailey, who is in a relationship with Chase; and Tyler, the brooding goalie and MMC of this novel who is so hyper focused on hockey and making it since there are so many less chances for goalies to make it than other positions in the professional league. Our lovely and endearing FMC is Seraphina, Sera, or Ser, who has moved back to her hometown to go to Boyd and take care of her and Chase's mom, as their mother was diagnosed with breast cancer pretty recently.

There's one thing Avery Keelan knows how to do, and that's go into deep stuff and not make it too much or seem like it was dropped into the story. I'm quite impressed. She also has a thing for making the FMC's former friends ABSOLUTELY AWFUL, which is kind of not realistic, but also is. It very much makes the "you get into a relationship and his friend's girlfriends' save you" kind of trope that I don't LOVE but it's done well with Avery Keelan, so I'm not complaining that much.

Seraphina and Tyler have hooked up previously at a halloween party at a club. And the classic trope of hooking up for the very first time in a club bathroom and having three orgasms while that happens is RAMPANT. They also haven't been able to think about or hook up with anyone else since, classic. Tyler was dressed as Hades and Seraphina was dressed as Tinkerbell. Consequently, those are their nicknames for each other, which is ADORABLE.

So it's the start of the second semester and Seraphina moves into her brother's house that he shares with his two teammates. She is the classic girly girl and a complete mess. She's got ADHD, can't even drink caffeine, takes meds, doesn't think the limit to pink exists, etc. I love this trope. Avery Keelan pulled this off sooooo well. It's exactly what I wanted Summer and Colin's story to be like in the Briar U series when she moves into Dean's old teammates home. Admittedly, Avery Keelan has a LOT of similarities to Becka Mack and Elle Kennedy's stories, characters, and tropes, but this one just worked better for me. I also could see myself owning these books, whereas I don't think I'll ever buy any of the Off Campus or Briar U books. I do own all of Becka Mack's books though, because YUM.

Tyler has TONS of tattoos, doesn't talk to anyone, and is so focused on being the best goalie he can be that he trains with a goalie coach and his dad is his agent. However, this somehow doesn't lend to daddy issues for Tyler and his dad actually cares about him and even has a come-to-jesus moment where he tells Tyler he's pushed him too hard and life isn't always about hockey. We love to see it.

So Tyler and Seraphina are texting and flirting and have a couple close calls physically. The anxiety from Sera's side is done soooo realistically, while she's also trying to navigate her friendship with her friend from childhood, Abby, who makes her go out all the time and has a skeezy older brother. Sera's trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life, navigate a new college, make new friends - she even has a moment where she questions whether or not Bailey and Shiv are true friends or just feeling bad for her, newsflash, they are true friends - and also take her mom to cancer appointments. It gets super deep when the doctors find out that her mom has the BRCA1 gene, which she can give to her children. There's a fifty-fifty chance that Sera has this gene too, and she has to navigate the anxiety around getting tested and then waiting for the results while not bothering her brother about it and also navigating whatever she's doing with Tyler. The anxiety is done SO well and the holding it back from Tyler isn't even really a thing because she makes it more about just navigating through it on her own. God it's just done so well because I wasn't screaming internally JUST TELL HIM the whole time. Both of them are so incredibly busy and this is so natural with them that it just doesn't even come up because Tyler is also distracting her and she's got so much else going on anyway.

However, Chase finds out about Tyler and Sera, as they usually do, and they fight. Somehow, he and Dallas realize before Tyler even does that Tyler has deeper feelings for Sera and it becomes a non issue. Which I love about romance novels sometimes because the guys in love just seem to get it when another one of their friends is in love and just let them be and figure it out on their own.

Then, Sera gets an email about a test result while Tyler is away and finds out she is positive for the BRCA1 gene and, rightfully so, has a full on breakdown. He finds her and takes care of her and confesses his feelings for her and is there for her after and it all just flows so well and I'm so content with the pace and content of this book and I'm so excited for the eventual third one, as that seems like it will be the last in this series for Avery Keelan.