Wicked Serve

Beyond the Play, Book 4

By: Grace Reilly

Narrated by: Faith Clark, Oscar Reyes

Claim your new obsession from TikTok sensation Grace Reilly, a spicy brother’s rival hockey romance! Perfect for fans of Hannah Grace, Liz Tomforde and Elsie Silver.

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.

©2024 Grace Reilly (P)2024 Spotify Audiobooks

Nik and Izzy

Wicked Serve is the fourth and final book in the Beyond the Play series. It tells the story of Nik and Izzy. Izzy is the only daughter and youngest sibling in the Callahan family. Nik plays hockey for Izzy's brother's rival team. Nik and Izzy fit well together. I loved the evolution of their relationship as they worked through their individual issues. They stood by each other even when it was difficult to do so. This story has deeper topics and is more emotional than I expected. I was invested in their journey and rooted for them.

Nik absolutely made the story for me. I couldn't get enough of him. He fell hard for Izzy and was super supportive of her. Nik had a difficult past and lots of trauma from his childhood. I loved his mental health journey. He didn't shy away from confronting his issues and prioritized getting the help he needed. I stan a man that goes to therapy. Of course, you can't go wrong with a dirty-talking hockey player.

As a sports romance fanatic and former athlete, I love reading stories where both the MMC and FMC are athletes. I loved the forbidden nature of Nik and Izzy's relationship, and there is some really good spice. They had amazing chemistry and couldn’t keep their hands off each other. I loved how Nik showed Izzy how she deserves to be treated. I also loved how he gave Izzy the space to be herself. I love a man who empowers his woman. I really loved the found family element and how the story wrapped up with a heartwarming HEA.

🎧𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:
Faith Clark and Oscar Reyes performed dual narration for this story. Oscar did an amazing job with Nik's Russian accent. Faith and Oscar gave the characters the perfect personalities and really brought them to life. I could feel the emotions as the characters navigated their relationship and their personal struggles.

Amazing

The series was already amazing, but hearing the story of Izzy and Nick was the perfect ending. One of my favorite series ever!

Amazing

This was my first Grace Reilly book and I loved every minute of it. Nikolai and Izzy had an amazing summer when Izzy did her internship at his mom’s wedding planning business. When the summer was over they went their separate ways. Nikolai to Boston to play hockey and Izzy to McKee University to play volleyball. An unfortunate event leads to an expulsion from his college and his grandfather manages to get him a spot on the rival school’s team, McKee University. Not only is he play for the rival team, he is also playing with his biggest rival, Cooper Callahan, the Captain of the team and Izzy’s older brother. It’s so messy but it’s what kept me reading.

Nikolai and Izzy start off as friend’s with benefits but we all know how that works out. But it’s how they work through it and their personal challenges that I loved. They communicated. I loved this about these characters. They never backed down from one another and they were each other’s biggest champion. I loved their story and watching them work through their personal issues. Especially Nikolai. I related to him so much.

The story and characters made it hard to put this book down. The family closeness really jumped off the page. The narrators did a great job bringing them to life. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series to get to know them and their stories more.

Sweet & Charming

Reilly's book is a wonderfully sweet & charming romance filled with plenty of swoon and spice! Narrators Faith Clark & Oscar Reyes provide a solid narration with both well together. It does take time to adjust to the differences in their voice performance for Nikolai. Yet, the more I listened to the book it was easy to adapt.

Nikolai and Isabelle might be opposites in many ways but their natural attraction to one another in never in doubt. Isabelle loves playing volleyball and she adores her family. Nikolai is a hockey star who has loved the game since he was little. He is also Isabelle's brother's rival. None of this means they forget their summer romance they experienced. Nikolai and Isabelle might have labeled their summer together as a fling, yet both have a difficult time truly believing this once they are separated.

When Nikolai is transferred to Isabelle's college and ends up on her brother's hockey team neither can keep away from the other. There are plenty of stolen and spicy moments. The summer romance must be kept a secret from Isabell's brother which becomes much more complicated especially with everyone's feeling changing. Isabelle has plenty of insecurities but she does not hold back from Nikolai. However, Nikolai has walls in place: he refuses to let Isabelle see his panic, know his triggers or even why his family is part of it all. This just might be what keeps them apart. Yet, Isabelle is determined to be strong for the both of them. Reilly has developed two solid characters and I love how strong their differences are yet they still connect so well.

What a surprise!

I don’t think I’ve read a book quite like this one. I was not expecting the emotional journey of this couple. This book is an easy 5 star read and I’d probably read it again. I feel like the rating on this book is highly underrated. This is an incredible romance, 🌶️ 😘, the narration is wonderful and the writing was extremely relatable. God I did not expect to love this book this much.

I'm a Sucker for the Sunshine Nickname

This audio is fantastic! Oscar Reyes with a Russian accent was so good, & Faith Clark was exactly how I imagined Izzy in my head! They really complimented each other well & made the story that much better!

Izzy & Nik are the long awaited couple in the Callahan family, and they are soooo worth the wait! Fair warning, his nickname for her makes me swoon! Sunshine is one of my all time favorite book boyfriend nicknames, & how Nik uses it for Izzy is definitely swoon worthy!

There are some top tier tropes like brother's rival and secret relationship in this one, and they are delish! The sneaking around & pretending not to know one another when Nik has to transfer to Izzy's university & play on the team with her brother is steamy & fun! While they "know" they should leave each other alone, they just can't and I love it! Their chemistry is *chefs kiss*!

The different family dynamics in this one also give this one so much depth! Izzy and her relationship/feelings around her place in her family, & Nik's super complicated feelings about his different family members & past trauma are done so well in my opinion! I think they faced them well together, & brought out the best in each other. Even when Nik wanted to work on himself alone, he & Izzy never gave up on each other.

All this to say, loved it! They were beyond worth the wait and absolutely re-read/re-listen material!

Perfect series end

I love Nik and Izzy! This book was so great such a perfect end to a series and an epilogue to die for!!

Izzy’s narrator 😖

This was definitely my least favorite of the series but still good. I appreciated the representation of anxiety and panic attacks. I really didn’t like the narrator for Izzy. At the end of ever other word, it seemed like, she would do this weird breath thing where she’d breathe out the end of it kind of heavy, it was so distracting (and honestly annoying) that I really struggled getting through her chapters

Wasn't feeling the connection with this one.

Unfortunately, this was my least favorite in the series, and as much as I loved Nik, Izzy was a flop. I felt like throughout the book, she was treated as more of an accessorized plot device than a main character. She had no growth throughout the story; everything that happened to her or affected her in any way was actually somebody else growing in the story. It also lost a star for the third-act breakup (I’ve seen people saying that doesn’t count as a third-act breakup, but it definitely does in my book review).

Gave two stars for staying longer than chapter 10

The accent on the male character is horrific. What a waste of a book credit, wish I could get a refund.