The Graham Effect by Elle Kennedy
Reviewer: Wena
Series: Campus Diaries #1
Main Leads: Gigi Graham, Luke Ryder
Setting: United States, Massachusetts, Hastings
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Tags: Hockey Romance, Enemies to Lovers, Sports Romance
Published On: October 31, 2023
Publisher: Bloom Books
Format: e-Book
Source: Purchased
Pages: 498
Purchase It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Gigi Graham has exactly three goals: qualify for the women’s national hockey team, win Olympic gold, and step out of her famous father’s shadow. So far, so good, except for two little things. Fine–a little thing and a big, grumpy thing. She needs to improve her game behind the net, and she needs help from Luke Ryder.
Ryder is six-foot five, built, opinionated, rude…and sexy as hell. But he’s still the enemy.
Briar’s new hockey co-captain has his reasons, though. The men’s team just merged with a rival program, leaving Ryder with an angry roster where everyone hates one another’s guts. To make matters worse, the summer coaching spot he’s angling for with the legendary Garrett Graham is out of reach after he makes the worst possible first impression on his hero. So, really, this compromise with Gigi is win-win. He helps her make the national team, she puts in a good word
with her dad.The only potential snag? This bone-deep, body-numbing, mind-spinning chemistry they’re trying to ignore. It’s a dangerous game they’re playing, but the risks just might be worth it.
The Graham Effect is the first book in the Campus Diaries series, which is a spin-off of Elle Kennedy’s Off Campus series and it features the daughter of the couple from The Deal. You still with me? Haha. As a huge fan of the Off Campus and Briar U series, I was looking forward to this release and being back in the Briar hockey world. This book follows Gigi Graham and Luke Ryder as they meet, hate eachother, and then fall in love with eachother.
Gigi Graham is a hockey player who plays for the Women’s Hockey team at Briar University, the school that her parents went to and she’s kind of like Briar royalty because of how famous her father is. She’s got dreams of playing on the women’s national hockey team and she’s driven to succeed at everything so fixing her weaknesses on the ice is important to her. When Luke Ryder comes back into her life, she’s not at all interested in him until he offers to help her with those weaknesses on the ice. He’ll help her with her game if she talks him up to her famous hockey player father, Garrett Graham. He needs every opportunity he can get to set his future in the NHL up and coaching at a summer camp hosted by hockey greats Garrett Graham and Jake Connelly is an opportunity he needs. He hasn’t made the best impression on Garrett Graham and he’s hoping his daughter can help him out.
Elle Kennedy did her thing with this one. She introduced some new characters that I am super excited to see more of, she brought back some characters that I love and have missed, and she wrote a steamy romance that I was rooting for from the jump. She included some hurdles that our hero and heroine have to overcome and I was here for it all.
Gigi was a fun heroine that I enjoyed getting to know. She comes from a privileged background but works hard for everything she has. She’s down to earth, smart as hell, and strong. She kind of reminded me of her Mom a little bit and I loved that too. I love how she recognizes that she lives a lucky life, doesn’t take it for granted but isn’t an asshole about it either. Seeing her fall harder and harder for Ryder with each passing page was a lot of fun. She felt how she felt and even though she didn’t plan on falling in love with Ryder, when she realizes that she does, she wasn’t an idiot about it. She was a great heroine and she was perfect for Ryder.
Ryder’s story was intereesting to me. I spent a huge chunk of this book wondering why he was so serious and closed off to everyone. His whole personality just screamed “I have an interesting story” and I couldn’t wait to unravel all the mysteries of Luke Ryder. I wasn’t disappointed in the story either. It’s a heavy story and once I knew it all, it made me cry. I cried for Ryder as a young boy, and for Ryder as he was now. His entire life felt like he was always slugging up a steep mountain that kept getting steeper as the years passed by and for him to be such a softie behind the serious face had me loving him all the more.
I loved how big a part Garrett and Hannah played in this story. If I had a gripe, it was probably the way that Garrett acted throughout the entire book. I lost count of how many times I wanted to smack him and the way that he treated both Ryder and Gigi. As frustrated as Garrett made me, Hannah had me soft for the way that she became a source of comfort for Ryder. I cried a lot when she shows up at his house and just hugs him because she knew that he needed it. Ryder grew up without a mother and seeing Hannah show up for Ryder had me soft and sobbing all over the place.
Overall, this was a solid romance that set up the new spin-off series up right. I’m looking forward to Shane and Diana’s book and seeing who else will get their stories told. I was under the impression that this series was going to follow the new generation of kids from the other couples but maybe I understood wrong. Shrugs. But this book packs an enjoyable reading experience with a romance that was sweet and steamy at the same time. The way that things were handled with both of the hockey teams learning to be one team dragged on a bit at times but I was satisfied with how things turned out on that end. Then there was the way that things were handled with Case. Even though I thought Gigi took her sweet ass time coming clean with him, I was satisfied with the way that everything worked out with him. This was a great romance with great characters and I’m glad that I read it. I definitely recommend this if you love steamy hockey romances. Elle Kennedy always delivers such sweet romances and this one is no exception. So good.
Campus Diaries Series
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