Review: "THE GRAHAM EFFECT" by Elle Kennedy

Good morning my friends!

Today I bring you the review of Elle Kennedy's newest book, The Graham Effect, whose protagonist is Gigi Graham, Hannah and Garrett's daughter. 

The book will come out on 31st October, so this is a preview review!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Piatkus for the chance to read one of my most anticipated release of the year!

Title: The Graham Effect

Author: Elle Kennedy

Publishing date: 31 October

Publisher: Piatkus

Pages: 368

Price: 17€ (on Amazon.it)

Plot: 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. 

Series:

1. The Graham Effect (for now only this has been announced)

Review:

Rating: 4 stars!

The Off-Campus series is one of my favorite series ever, so I was super excited when The Graham Effect was announced, but also a little bit scared, because my expectations were really high. At the end of the reading I can say that Elle Kennedy did it again! She brought us back to a beloved world, with our beloved characters and gave us new informations and new people to love. 

The story follows Gigi Graham, the daughter of Garrett and Hannah, the protagonists of The Deal. And if you read the original series, you know why she is called like this. She not only took her name from her father, but also the love for hockey and she plays in the Briar women's hockey team. Her dream is to play for the US national team, but even though she is one of the best players she is having problems to enter the team. For this she asks the help of Ryder, the new co-capitan of the men's hockey team. He will not help her for free, in fact he wants that she puts a good word with her dad in his behalf, so that he can work with his legend Garrett Graham during the summer. 

A win-win for both of them... but they have to fight against their mind-spinning chemistry. 

Gigi is definitely Garrett's daughter. She is strong, passionate and always keeps her eyes on the goal. I saw parts of her parents in her personality, but she is also her own person. It is interesting also seeing a good and healthy relationship between a daughter and her parents. 

Ryder is also concentrate on his goal: play hockey professionally. He doesn't have a good family situation and this made him really a grumpy character, but also stoic. I think this differentiates him from the author's other male characters. 

Their relationship doesn't start in the best ways, some miscommunication, enemy of a friend and then it arrives the pact.  When their bond becomes something more, at the beginning is only physical, so prepare yourself for a lot of spicy. Fortunately, we later get to see how their relationship grows and how they open up about their past, worries and hopes for the future. They started out as friends with benefits and then we see a more emotional connection, and that it's what I like in romance books. So I am pretty satisfied on this. I loved how Ryder is so stoic and grumpy at first and then becomes super sweet with Gigi. I really enjoyed the things that he did for her, I couldn't stop smiling. 

I also appreciated how the protagonists take something from past characters, while remaining original. They didn't seem like a copycat of Garrett and Hannah or another couple. On the other hand, some of the secondary characters reminded me a little too much of other characters from the original series.

Writing a book that is the return of beloved characters without them been protagonists is really difficult, because too much and it is another book about them, not enough in a second generation book and the characters that you loved are terrible parents. Elle Kennedy managed to give us back these characters without stealing the place of the protagonists. Hannah and Garrett are there as Gigi's parents, we see them only in this light. And also the others characters from Off-Campus and Briar U did some cameos that I really liked. It made the book more familiar and they were hilarious as always. 

I think that this book for now will be the only second generation of this series. The others will probably concentrate on Gigi and Ryder's friends who were introduced in this one. At the end of the book you have some ideas on what will happened to them and I am really interested to see especially how one of the relationship will continue. 

Even thought I really appreciated the book there are some aspect that didn't convince me. Some points could have been more detailed, especially the ending which is a little too fast. Personally I didn't also like a narration choice of the author, but this is totally a subjective thing. 

Some of the initial dialogues  between Ryder and his friends didn't feel right to me. They are definitely realistic, but I didn't want reality. I want the fictional part because the men treat women better here. Ryder had the chance to prove himself later and he won my affection, but sometimes at the start I was not really totally on board.

The Graham Effect is a good book, with charming characters, a sexy and emotional love story and it also has Garrett Graham in his DILF era. So what more can we ask? If you loved the original series, you would definitely love Gigi and Ryder too.

- Camilla