After finishing The Year We Hid Away, and with the help of Emmalita’s loan, I immediately started reading the third book in Sarina Bowen’s Ivy League Series: The Understatement of the Year (2014). Taking place at the same elite, Yale-like, hockey-centric college, this one differs primarily because the romance is about two young men rather than the more ubiquitous, romantic heterosexual couples. Michael Graham and John Rikker grew up together, and they were close friends. As puberty hit and their sexual awareness grew, they began some […]
College, scandals, and love
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the first book of Sarina Bowen’s Ivy League Series: The Year We Fell Down. It was emotionally engaging and very fun to read. Emmalita was kind enough to lend me the next two books in the series, which I managed to read in quick succession (although I am only now getting around to reviewing them.) The Year We Hid Away (2014) brings back Bridger, the partier and player, from the first book. But this year Bridger has more […]
The opposite of slut-shaming
Bella, the student manager of the Harkness varsity hockey team, loves sex and isn’t afraid to say so. She knows that a lot of guys and especially their girlfriends frequently say uncomplimentary things about her behind her back because of her reputation, but Bella isn’t ashamed of enjoying sex in all its many forms. Hence when her hot downstairs neighbour ends up on her doorstep one evening with a bottle of wine, dejected because he broke up with his girlfriend on his birthday, she cheers […]
A college romance with hockey and healthy servings of angst
Michael Graham and John Rikker were best friends growing up, spending all their time together, playing hockey either on the ice or on a gaming console in Graham’s den. Until the summer when it was quite clear that their friendship was turning into something else and they couldn’t keep their hands off each other anymore. Taking every chance they got to be together in secret, their developing relationship came to a violent end when they were caught by a gang of homophobic bullies. Graham managed […]
The beauty and the basketball player
Katie Vickery is a sorority pledge and there is no way she can show up to a party without a date. Having just broken up with her jerky football player boyfriend, she’s at a bit of a loss, until her roommate Scarlet sets her up with a childhood friend, Andrew Baschnagel. While Katie normally dates football players, at least Andy is an athlete and an upperclassman, even if the sport is basketball. Of course, Katie pretty much wants to eat worms than go to the […]
A college romance with truly monumental amounts of angst
Having spent the previous year pretty much focused on hockey and dating as many different women as possible, Bridger Macaulley’s life drastically changes when he realises that his dead-beat mother isn’t just doing drugs anymore, but that she’s now part of a gang that actually cooks meths at home. He takes his seven-year-old little sister Lucy out of there and hides her in his dorm room, while spending every available moment while she’s at school taking a double course load so he can graduate faster […]