Wicked Serve: A Novel (Beyond the Play, 4, Band 4)
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Beschreibung
Beiträge
~ 🇺🇸 I really liked the story. It's a hockey romance story and the fourth book in the series, but you can read it independently of the previous ones. The previous ones are about a few of Izzy's other family members. It takes place at college, which is a really great setting for the story. I really liked the characters. Izzy has to assert herself against her brothers, who are all very talented at sports, because giving up is not an option. Nikolai is under pressure to pursue his sports career and changing colleges won't make things any better. Both characters have developed well and I also thought their relationship was very good. I will definitely read the other stories in the series. I really liked the writing style and I also really liked the cover. I definitely recommend reading it. 🇩🇪Mir hat die Geschichte sehr gut gefallen. Es ist eine Eishockey-Romace-Geschichte und das vierte Buch der Reihe, allerdings kann man es unabhängig von den vorherigen lesen. In den vorherigen geht es um die ein paar andere Familienmitglieder von Izzy. Es spielt am College, was für die Geschichte ein wirklich tolles Setting ist. Die Figuren haben mir sehr gut gefallen. Izzy muss sich bei ihren Brüdern, welche alle sehr Sportbegabt sind, durchsetzen, denn aufgeben ist keine option. Nikolai hat Druck auf seine Sportkarierre und mit einem Collegewechsel wird es nicht besser. Beide Figuren haben sich toll entwickelt und auch ihre Beziehung fand ich sehr gut. Ich werde mir auf jeden Fall die anderen Geschichten der Reihe auch auf jeden Fall lesen. Der Schreibstil hat mir sehr gut gefallen und das Cover mochte ich auch sehr. Eine klare Leseempfehlung.
Sports Romance Without Any Sports
Apparently, this is no. 4 of a whole series, volume 1-3 focussing on the other Callaghan siblings. As I haven’t read any of the other books, I can’t say if I missed anything in this one but, to be honest, I don’t think I have, as it’s not exactly… Complicated material. Nikolai and Isabelle are both college athletes. While he plays ice hockey, she’s a former volleyball setter-turned-opposite-hitter who’s now looking to win back her original position. After ending their steamy summer affair, they are both looking to focus on their respective sports careers... Which they are prevented from doing because, well, plot: For no reason other than establishing our male lead as someone of noble character (he covers for a friend), Nikolai gets expelled from his university. This makes staying away from his summer crush Isabelle (he has to because he thinks he’s a bad person or whatever) a whole lot harder, since his evil grandfather makes him join no other university than the one his summer fling attends as well. But at least Izzy is gonna ignore him because he ended their short romance by leaving without a word (totally valid in his head, why communicate when you can break someone's heart with a "clean cut"), right? Not quite but worry not, there is still the one, unavoidable obstacle: Even though our protagonists throw away all new-semester resolutions after basically five minutes and immediately start getting it on again, they can’t make their clear infatuation with each other public because, you guessed it, plot: One of Isabelle’s (many and super successful) brothers is the team captain of Nikolai’s new hockey team and also his mortal enemy, or something. Of course the fact that the two men immediately apologise for the dirty pre-game trash talk that caused their feud, and soon become best friends, as well as the fact that said brother, Cooper, is actually a pretty decent, level-headed guy, still does not cause Izzy and Nik to just tell the truth because, well, again, plot. So, right from the beginning it's clear that the big revelation to Cooper that everybody knows will happen eventually, won't actually be that big of a deal, but there’s other drama, right? Of course. Isabelle’s got a volleyball coach who’s completely awful, apparently, for making perfectly reasonable decisions, like making Isabelle work for her position instead of just handing it to her. And Nikolai, very self-aware, very sweet, is also very traumatised by his evil Russian dad that haunts the narrative like every dead wife in every action movie nowadays. Still, he says he’d do anything for his "sunshine girl", his "little sun", hist *insert any other nickname that has got anything to do with the mentioned fix star, bonus points if it is in Russian — Except go to therapy, of course. Apart from that, there is also a lot of very similar sex scenes without build up, and talk about how important sports are to both main characters, even though there’s barely any actual sports content, besides Isabelle hating her coach for no reason and Nikolai missing matches and practices for, well, you guessed it, the plot. Of course, some things are lovely as well, like the sensitive handling of men’s mental health as well as the bravery of giving us a feminist female character who loves pink, princesses, and manicures instead of being “not like other girls”. I can also get very much on board of the “simping-for-characters-with-Russian-accents” train and the depiction of healthy sibling relationships as well as representation for the LGBTQIA+ and the “sorry, I don’t want kids” gangs… Thus, the two and a half stars. But apart from that? I’m sorry, I can deal with cliché and predictability and fluff. But I’m going to need at least some things to make up for it, and if you call a book “Wicket Serve”, there has to be at least some more connection to the sport that the book supposedly deals with. Am I going to read volume 1-3? I'll be honest: I still wouldn't put it past me.
3,75 This was a really nice college-sports-romance! Loved how both main characters had their respective sport and how it was portrayed in the book. I felt like it was a good mix of sports + romance + plot. There were way more sex scenes in the first half, and generally in the book, than I would have expected (I’m not mad, just surprised). Which later on made sense, because the second half focused more on the plot and the characters. I haven’t read the other books in this series yet, but this book can definitely be read as a standalone. However, I do think it makes sense to read this series in order as it will provide a better understanding of the Callahan family dynamics and the relationship of the siblings and their respective partners. I really enjoyed Cooper’s and Nik’s friendship and its development throughout the book! There were even moments when I enjoyed it more than the romance, as in, I was excited to read scenes between those two. I wouldn’t have minded having even more scenes with only them to be honest. There were a couple things, which to my surprise and delight, took a different turn than I am used to from other books. Two that come to mind are, as mentioned above, Cooper + Nik’s friendship. I really expected them to not get along for basically 80% of the book but they as (best) friends made so much sense. And the other one is the non existing breakup between Isabelle + Nik. I feel like there was an attempted 3rd-act-breakup at the 50% mark, but…is it really a 3rd-act-breakup when it doesn’t happen in the 3rd act? I will also not count it as a breakup at all, so that’s that. But the vibe was definitely giving (3rd-act) breakup. There were no overly dramatic fights between people or generally no drama, but a lot of really great conversations and emotional bonding between family members, friends and romantic partners! I caught myself several times thinking that this book might be about 50, maybe even more, pages too long. Especially with Nik’s past and resulting traumas keep coming up without any kind of resolvement up until basically the very end. I also felt like the main characters, who were supposed to be 19 and 21 (I think), acted older than their age. I also wasn’t vibing with all of the russian, but this a me-thing. я люблю тебя vs the usual я тебя люблю (eng: I love you) was a choice I guess. I eventually got somewhat used to solnishko (eng: sunshine) but I wasn’t really vibing with it in the beginning. I was hesitant throughout the book about reading the other books in this series, but now after finishing 'Wicked Serve', I do plan on reading them! Thank you to Headline Eternal for providing this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
i really enjoyed the book even it’s very long and it could be a lot shorter, i just didn’t like the break at the end, like i understand he had his problems and i was happy he wandet to get better but the break was so unnecessary i would liked it more if they would got through it together
Beschreibung
Beiträge
~ 🇺🇸 I really liked the story. It's a hockey romance story and the fourth book in the series, but you can read it independently of the previous ones. The previous ones are about a few of Izzy's other family members. It takes place at college, which is a really great setting for the story. I really liked the characters. Izzy has to assert herself against her brothers, who are all very talented at sports, because giving up is not an option. Nikolai is under pressure to pursue his sports career and changing colleges won't make things any better. Both characters have developed well and I also thought their relationship was very good. I will definitely read the other stories in the series. I really liked the writing style and I also really liked the cover. I definitely recommend reading it. 🇩🇪Mir hat die Geschichte sehr gut gefallen. Es ist eine Eishockey-Romace-Geschichte und das vierte Buch der Reihe, allerdings kann man es unabhängig von den vorherigen lesen. In den vorherigen geht es um die ein paar andere Familienmitglieder von Izzy. Es spielt am College, was für die Geschichte ein wirklich tolles Setting ist. Die Figuren haben mir sehr gut gefallen. Izzy muss sich bei ihren Brüdern, welche alle sehr Sportbegabt sind, durchsetzen, denn aufgeben ist keine option. Nikolai hat Druck auf seine Sportkarierre und mit einem Collegewechsel wird es nicht besser. Beide Figuren haben sich toll entwickelt und auch ihre Beziehung fand ich sehr gut. Ich werde mir auf jeden Fall die anderen Geschichten der Reihe auch auf jeden Fall lesen. Der Schreibstil hat mir sehr gut gefallen und das Cover mochte ich auch sehr. Eine klare Leseempfehlung.
Sports Romance Without Any Sports
Apparently, this is no. 4 of a whole series, volume 1-3 focussing on the other Callaghan siblings. As I haven’t read any of the other books, I can’t say if I missed anything in this one but, to be honest, I don’t think I have, as it’s not exactly… Complicated material. Nikolai and Isabelle are both college athletes. While he plays ice hockey, she’s a former volleyball setter-turned-opposite-hitter who’s now looking to win back her original position. After ending their steamy summer affair, they are both looking to focus on their respective sports careers... Which they are prevented from doing because, well, plot: For no reason other than establishing our male lead as someone of noble character (he covers for a friend), Nikolai gets expelled from his university. This makes staying away from his summer crush Isabelle (he has to because he thinks he’s a bad person or whatever) a whole lot harder, since his evil grandfather makes him join no other university than the one his summer fling attends as well. But at least Izzy is gonna ignore him because he ended their short romance by leaving without a word (totally valid in his head, why communicate when you can break someone's heart with a "clean cut"), right? Not quite but worry not, there is still the one, unavoidable obstacle: Even though our protagonists throw away all new-semester resolutions after basically five minutes and immediately start getting it on again, they can’t make their clear infatuation with each other public because, you guessed it, plot: One of Isabelle’s (many and super successful) brothers is the team captain of Nikolai’s new hockey team and also his mortal enemy, or something. Of course the fact that the two men immediately apologise for the dirty pre-game trash talk that caused their feud, and soon become best friends, as well as the fact that said brother, Cooper, is actually a pretty decent, level-headed guy, still does not cause Izzy and Nik to just tell the truth because, well, again, plot. So, right from the beginning it's clear that the big revelation to Cooper that everybody knows will happen eventually, won't actually be that big of a deal, but there’s other drama, right? Of course. Isabelle’s got a volleyball coach who’s completely awful, apparently, for making perfectly reasonable decisions, like making Isabelle work for her position instead of just handing it to her. And Nikolai, very self-aware, very sweet, is also very traumatised by his evil Russian dad that haunts the narrative like every dead wife in every action movie nowadays. Still, he says he’d do anything for his "sunshine girl", his "little sun", hist *insert any other nickname that has got anything to do with the mentioned fix star, bonus points if it is in Russian — Except go to therapy, of course. Apart from that, there is also a lot of very similar sex scenes without build up, and talk about how important sports are to both main characters, even though there’s barely any actual sports content, besides Isabelle hating her coach for no reason and Nikolai missing matches and practices for, well, you guessed it, the plot. Of course, some things are lovely as well, like the sensitive handling of men’s mental health as well as the bravery of giving us a feminist female character who loves pink, princesses, and manicures instead of being “not like other girls”. I can also get very much on board of the “simping-for-characters-with-Russian-accents” train and the depiction of healthy sibling relationships as well as representation for the LGBTQIA+ and the “sorry, I don’t want kids” gangs… Thus, the two and a half stars. But apart from that? I’m sorry, I can deal with cliché and predictability and fluff. But I’m going to need at least some things to make up for it, and if you call a book “Wicket Serve”, there has to be at least some more connection to the sport that the book supposedly deals with. Am I going to read volume 1-3? I'll be honest: I still wouldn't put it past me.
3,75 This was a really nice college-sports-romance! Loved how both main characters had their respective sport and how it was portrayed in the book. I felt like it was a good mix of sports + romance + plot. There were way more sex scenes in the first half, and generally in the book, than I would have expected (I’m not mad, just surprised). Which later on made sense, because the second half focused more on the plot and the characters. I haven’t read the other books in this series yet, but this book can definitely be read as a standalone. However, I do think it makes sense to read this series in order as it will provide a better understanding of the Callahan family dynamics and the relationship of the siblings and their respective partners. I really enjoyed Cooper’s and Nik’s friendship and its development throughout the book! There were even moments when I enjoyed it more than the romance, as in, I was excited to read scenes between those two. I wouldn’t have minded having even more scenes with only them to be honest. There were a couple things, which to my surprise and delight, took a different turn than I am used to from other books. Two that come to mind are, as mentioned above, Cooper + Nik’s friendship. I really expected them to not get along for basically 80% of the book but they as (best) friends made so much sense. And the other one is the non existing breakup between Isabelle + Nik. I feel like there was an attempted 3rd-act-breakup at the 50% mark, but…is it really a 3rd-act-breakup when it doesn’t happen in the 3rd act? I will also not count it as a breakup at all, so that’s that. But the vibe was definitely giving (3rd-act) breakup. There were no overly dramatic fights between people or generally no drama, but a lot of really great conversations and emotional bonding between family members, friends and romantic partners! I caught myself several times thinking that this book might be about 50, maybe even more, pages too long. Especially with Nik’s past and resulting traumas keep coming up without any kind of resolvement up until basically the very end. I also felt like the main characters, who were supposed to be 19 and 21 (I think), acted older than their age. I also wasn’t vibing with all of the russian, but this a me-thing. я люблю тебя vs the usual я тебя люблю (eng: I love you) was a choice I guess. I eventually got somewhat used to solnishko (eng: sunshine) but I wasn’t really vibing with it in the beginning. I was hesitant throughout the book about reading the other books in this series, but now after finishing 'Wicked Serve', I do plan on reading them! Thank you to Headline Eternal for providing this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.