Everyone says opposites attract. And they must be right, because there’s no logical reason why I’m so drawn to Colin Fitzgerald. I don’t usually go for tattoo-covered, video-gaming, hockey-playing nerd-jocks who think I’m flighty and superficial. His narrow view of me is the first strike against him. It doesn’t help that he’s buddy-buddy with my brother.
GENRE:
New Adult, Romance, Hockey
PAGES:
377 pages
PART OF A SERIES?:
1st in the Briar series, a spin off of the Off Campus series
RELEASE DATE:
August 6th, 2018
PUBLISHER:
Self
YOU CAN FIND THE BOOK AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR THE FOLLOWING LINKS:
IndieBound
Book Depository
GOODREADS SUMMARY:
Everyone says opposites attract. And they must be right, because there’s no logical reason why I’m so drawn to Colin Fitzgerald. I don’t usually go for tattoo-covered, video-gaming, hockey-playing nerd-jocks who think I’m flighty and superficial. His narrow view of me is the first strike against him. It doesn’t help that he’s buddy-buddy with my brother.
And that his best friend has a crush on me.
And that I just moved in with them.
Oh, did I not mention we’re roommates?
I suppose it doesn’t matter. Fitzy has made it clear he’s not interested in me, even though the sparks between us are liable to burn our house down. I’m not the kind of girl who chases after a man, though, and I’m not about to start. I’ve got my hands full dealing with a new school, a sleazy professor, and an uncertain future. So if my sexy brooding roomie wises up and realizes what he’s missing?
He knows where to find me.
MY REVIEW
I absolutely adore Elle Kennedy’s college hockey romances and this one was definitely worth the wait. I discovered Elle a few years ago when I read The Deal, which is the first in the Off Campus series, and just fell in love. I love college stories, I love romances, and I especially love sports romances and Elle quickly became a favorite. I had sort of fallen off the wagon as far as keeping up with her releases and realized only days before its release that The Chase was coming out, it was about Summer, a minor character in a previous novel, and it was a spin off of the series I had already loved so so so much. I HAD to read it.
And I am so glad that I did. I loved both of the characters. Summer was very, very different from Hannah, Grace, Ally and Sabrina and I loved that about her. I loved that she was wicked smart but had to work harder than other people because of her learning disability. I loved that she was fun and strong and she challenged the ideas that people – namely Fitz – had about her, that she was ditzy and shallow and didn’t have substance, simply because she enjoyed going out, drinking, having fun, and carrying about fashionable things. I think its easy to wrap a person up in a box based on what we see on the outside or what little we know of the person and Summer definitely has dealt with and I like to see her challenge people with that, not only Fitz, but her professors and her classmates and so forth. She’s a fun character but she’s multilayered and fun to get to know throughout the book. We only got a glimpse of her as Dean’s sister in his story but I am glad Elle decided to give her a story.
I also like Fitz as well, I like that he seemed more down to earth and less skanky as some the guys in previous books – hey, don’t get me wrong though, I love those guys. But it was a nice to have a little change in pace and have the male lead be more resistant to the charms of the female character. I don’t know why, but we don’t see that often and I really enjoyed reading it in this story. I also loved that Fitz was multilayered as well. I think it would be easy to see him as just a jock – which a character in the novel does – and dismiss him as nothing more than a good looking and talented hockey player. But he’s wicked smart and wants to be a video game designer and I loved that about the character. I loved that hockey was more of the hobby for him, unlike characters in the past, and that game design was his passion. Like Summer, he was more than what he appeared to be.
Putting those two characters together, I think it became a truly great story. Their friendship and romance took work and took time and was really worth it in the end, for them and for the reader. It was a slow burn, and it was both frustrating and delicious to read. I liked that they both dealt with people who saw them at their surface level and how I think that helped bring them together. I think once they realized they both went through similar things – Summer being seen as only a ditzy, party girl and Fitz as a dumb jock – they really were able to connect. Plus they had both insanely sexy scenes and insanely funny scenes together…truly, the moment that they were walked in on, while fully having sex made me laugh so much. It was a great, fun, sexy romance and I’m so excited to read more stories at Briar!
RATING:
5 out of 5 Stars
