Wicked Serve

June 10, 2024
Reilly’s intoxicating fourth Beyond the Play new adult romance (after Stealing Home) brings the heat. With three star athlete older brothers and a retired quarterback for a father, Izzy Callahan hopes to impress her family in her sophomore year at McKee University by winning a starting spot on the school’s volleyball team. Absolutely no distractions must get in the way of this goal, especially not the wickedly handsome Nikolai Abney-Volkov. Having spent all summer secretly fooling around with Nikolai, Izzy is glad to have state lines separating them as they return to their rival schools. But once Nikolai is forced to transfer to McKee, how will she resist the temptation of more intoxicating hookups and heartfelt conversations? For his part, Nikolai wants to make his last hockey season count, but playing on the same team as his former rivals proves to be difficult, especially when the captain is Izzy’s older brother, who would never let him anywhere near Izzy. Reilly ramps up the sexual tension as these two try and fail to avoid one another. Izzy and Nikolai’s love story is filled with angst and hilarious moments, balanced with deeper conversations that make the emotions feel real. Reilly will have sports romance readers swooning. Agent: Claire Draper, Azantian Literary.

July 1, 2024
A volleyball player's summer fling transfers to her college. Isabelle Callahan comes from a family of champions. Her father was a professional football player, and all her older brothers are successful athletes--but her freshman year on McKee University's volleyball team was an unmitigated failure. She's determined to impress her difficult coach and earn back her position as setter. Unfortunately, Isabelle's plans are disrupted when hockey player Nikolai Abney-Volkov transfers to McKee. They had an intense summer fling during her internship at his mother's wedding-planning business in Manhattan, but Nik disappeared rather than say goodbye on their last night together. Even though he is happy to have another chance with Isabelle, the circumstances are not ideal. He was expelled from his previous college after taking the fall for a teammate who brought drugs to a party, and his wealthy grandfather got him a place at McKee in exchange for Nikolai's promise that he'll work for the family business after graduation rather than going to the NHL. Isabelle's feelings were hurt by Nik's abrupt disappearance at the end of the summer, and she intends to focus on volleyball, not a boyfriend. Meanwhile, Nik knows he should stay away from Isabelle since her protective older brother is his new captain. Their attraction is too strong to resist, though, and despite their stated reasons for steering clear of each other, they fall back into a relationship. Reilly's first traditionally published novel consists of strings of events that are completely divorced from character development, cohesive plotting, or logical worldbuilding. The driving force behind the book is the length of the school year and Isabelle and Nik's sports seasons rather than an interesting or compelling romantic relationship between the two. Aimless storytelling sidelines this sports romance.

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August 9, 2024
This semester, Isabelle "Izzy" Callahan is determined to show McKee University's volleyball coach, Alexis, that she is ready to play setter. This means Izzy can't let anything--or anyone--distract her, including sexy hockey player Nikolai "Nik" Abney-Volkov, with whom Izzy enjoyed a memorable summer fling. Izzy, however, receives an unexpected spike in her plans to up her volleyball game when Nik suddenly turns up at McKee as the newest addition to the university's hockey team. What's even worse is that Izzy quickly finds the attraction she feels for Nik has not cooled down one bit. If anything, it has gotten even hotter! Reilly brings her A game to the concluding entry in her Beyond the Play series by serving up exactly what her readers crave most: plenty of blisteringly hot sex scenes, an angsty plot amped up with some real-world drama that includes panic disorder, and a generous injection of snarky humor.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.