ARC Review: THE CHARLIE METHOD (Off Campus Diaries, #3) by Elle Kennedy

Hello readers!
Thanks to Hambright PR I've received an early copy of a very-much discussed new release of this month, that is also the newest book by one of my favorite auto-buy authors! So, here's my review of The Charlie Method by Elle Kennedy.

Title: The Charlie Method
Author: Elle Kennedy
Publishing Date: February 25, 2025
Publisher:  Bloom Books
Pages: 528 (paperback)
Price: 17,99 $

Plot:The third in the steamy, hilarious Campus Diaries series by New York Times bestselling author Elle Kennedy, set in the same world as Off Campus and Briar U.

College senior Charlotte Kingston is living two lives―and she's nailing both of them. By day, she's the perfect sorority girl, a STEM student in biomedical engineering, and the adopted daughter of an overachiever family. At night, she's Charlie: a risk-taking daredevil looking for fun who finds herself chatting on a dating app with two anonymous hotties.

Will Larsen may seem like the breezy boy next door, but his congressman father is a constant thorn in his side. After a scandal hits another Division 1 hockey program, Will's dad is determined to distance his son from it, hiring a journalist to prove how squeaky-clean Will and his team are. Which means the last thing Will wants is for anyone to find out he and his best friend Beckett Dunne―a laidback Aussie shielding secret heartache―sometimes share girls in the bedroom.

When Charlie finally meets them in person and realizes she's been chatting with two gorgeous Briar U hockey players, things get steamy―fast. But all their messy secrets are piling up, and real life soon threatens to shatter the fantasy. With Charlie, Will, and Beckett all coming to terms with what they want and what others want for them, difficult decisions will need to be made.

Especially when lust starts to look a lot like love.

Series The Campus Diaries:
1. The Graham Effect
2. The Dixon Rule
3. The Charlie Method

Review: 

*presence of some spoilers*

Rate: 3.5 ⭐ 

I'm feeling a bit sad right now that this book is over, because this also means The Campus Diaries series has ended. It's been a packed-journey, since I've decided to binge read all the three books together, and I found myself with new favorite characters to add to my favorite ones list in the Briar University's world.
I can't help to be fond of these complicated, sometimes infuriating new adults, with their warts and all. And if with The Dixon Rule I already knew the main characters, because they were both a solid presence in The Graham Effect, when I started The Charlie Method I still had to know the third element of this trio: Charlie.

I immediately connected with some aspects of her personality, especially the urge to be always someone their parents will be proud of, or someone people would love to have around and not being talked about their backs. Her anxiety's attacks were well described and relatable, as much as her need to blow off some steam to stomach all the stress she endured. I didn't expect, though, it would be by driving car on racing tracks 😂That was an awesome surprise and I totally adored wild Charlie mode! It was refreshing and also entertaining to read, same as per her sassier side. This girl knows what she wants and isn't afraid to verbalize it. Then again, as Faith says, she has indeed an "onion personality", because she's a character with a multitude of different shades to discover. For example, I super appreciated her being a true reference point for Blake (even if we just see a glimpse of their relationship), her absence of fear dealing with Mitch's snarky and mean comments as well as Agatha's outbursts, the natural way she cares about not hurting people's feelings, her absolutely interest in STEM, and her fears about being loved less because she isn't her parent's biological child.
I think that the most successful part of this novel is related to her decision to track down her family roots, discovering she has an older brother, with whom she tries to built up a real relationship. Her feelings were totally believable, and I wanted to hug her multiple times when she was dealing with Harrison's sourness and resentment, attempting not to be crushed by the guilt related to the way better life she ended up with, or by the fear that her adoptive family would stop loving her if they discovered she was seeing him. Handling Harrison wasn't easy since the very beginning, and even if I understood him I can't say I like him, that's why it was a relief to see that Charlotte didn't believe all his words related to her adoptive parents. At the same time, I appreciated the steps he made to make amend, even if it's not clear at the end of the book whether their relationship has developed more or they're just acquaintances.

Another thing I really welcomed were the different cameos that appeared randomly during the book. They often made me laugh - especially Hollis 😂- , but they also made me feel the urge to have some more novellas about my favorite characters from the previous series. It's true, we see Garrett and Hannah in The Graham Effect in multiple scenes, but I would love to have them and the others as main POVs again, with a direct look in their lives as grown men and women - Yes, it would be a massive book of novellas BUUUUT can you think about it, Elle? PLEEEASE.

Plus, a praise for Beckett's interactions with his parents. It's not so usual to see a son speaking this directly with his father (without being disrespectful), and I truly appreciated the way Beckett made him reconsider some decisions he made; then there was also the discussion with his mother related to the eventuality of going back to Australia. I really felt his longing for "coming back home", like there was a direct connection with a place he knew took his heart. Furthermore I loved his growth during the whole book, even if maybe a little bit hidden by other events. For me Beckett is the one who ground the trio together, always sure of Charlie and Will, ready to joke but also to face more serious discussions. At the same time, he conquered me with his own frailties, and I adored seeing him starting to open himself to the others again and also searching for his own path in life - even if I was a little bit sad to know he won't pursue an hockey carrier as defensman.

And talking about hockey, I think this is probably the less sport related Briar U book I've ever read, and I kind of miss it, you know? Yes, we have some scenes here and there, Coach Jensen is always the best, but hockey was one of the pillar of these series, where guys (or girls) bond and grow together and, well, so freaking hot and entertaining to read. Here, I really felt its absence.
Truth is, the usually perfect balance I always find in Elle Kennedy's novels, kind of slipped in The Charlie Method. I don't know if it's because there were too many things to focus on and following three main points of views and personal journeys isn't an easy task to accomplish, but something of this story was off.
From a certain point of the book, almost every encounter Will, Beckett and Charlie had turned into a sex scene, with very little time for them to show properly their relationship and feelings growing and consolidating into something more than a fling or a temporary arrangement.
Let me be clear, sex isn't the problem - but some scenes seemed too similar; I appreciated the little increase of this kind of scenes in this last series (and the kinky aspect was an interesting addition for sure), but besides some exceptions, what did they do together to make the readers understand they were in love? It was like the majority of times it was all off page. Plus, I can't say I really came to know Beckett and Will as much as I know Charlotte. I ended the book with the feeling I was missing almost two entire worlds, when usually at the end of any of Elle's story I know almost everything about who the main characters are, what they want, how they react, etc. That took me by surprise because Elle is usually amazing in these kind of things, instead I finished the book a little bit confused.

I suppose the fact that these three main figures didn't have the same number of chapters as POV didn't help, especially regarding Will's part. Sometimes he seemed a little bit left behind, and it could be ok if this wasn't a polyamorous situation. Regarding that, I'm not a fan of love triangles in every one of their possible outcomes, but I was willing to see if Elle could give me a key to consider it believable. Unfortunately, my thoughts at the end of the book are that I love all of them, Charlotte, Beckett and Will, and they are even cute together, but I really struggle to see how this situation will work out and last in the future. I agree that everyone should do what feel right to them, but every practical question asked (by more than one character) received almost no concrete reply, with lots of "I don't know". And that perplexed me, because Charlie is clearly a rational person, with her own proper Method to evaluate every problem in her life, and in this case after some doubts and concerns, she just goes with the flow, only worried about what people would think about it, and even this question resolved itself in a too simplistic way.
Then we have Beckett's past trauma that is kept hidden for the majority of the book and then has been resolved in an instant with just some reassurances, and there's Will, who from book two changes his own ideas multiple times, arriving at the epilogue with no specific answers about which conclusion he came to regarding how to handle their love situation. I didn't even seen clear moments that showed their strong friendship, and that's a pity. It's like they remained a sort of secondary character in their own book too.
Moreover, while in every one of Elle's books the "Briar found family" is always there for the main characters, the rest of their friends is almost nonexistent. And it's even weirder if we consider that The Charlie Method's timeline partially overlaps with The Dixon Rule's one. I though I would have re-experienced some important (and tough) moments of the previous book from the eyes of Will and Beckett, since Shane and Diana are their friends, instead everything was just... mentioned, like they were not so significant. We don't even see Ryder's goodbye to Beckett after graduation, when they should be close friends. Why?😔

So, there are little or bigger details that left me a little puzzled about this novel. And allow me to say that the use of drugs isn't something to consider even if it's just a one-time thing and under a "controlled situation". I appreciated Beck and Will's behavior related to that but... no.

In conclusion, I'm really torn because I can't say I didn't love the book at all, but it missed some of the usual Elle's magic I love so much. I really hope that the next series (because I'm sure it will arrive) will give more explanations about what happened, and also clarify what is happening between Blake and Isaac. I'm still trying to decide if I have to be worried about them or not 😂

If you read it, what do you think about it?
Let me know in the comments! In the meantime, thank you for giving some of your time to read my review.

To the next one!

Chiara

 

 

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Recensione: "COLLIDE" di Bal Khabra

Buongiorno amic* lettor*!

Oggi vi porto la recensione dell'hockey romance del momento, Collide. 

Titolo: Collide

Autrice: Bal Khabra

Data d'uscita: 14 maggio 2024

Editore: Rizzoli

Pagine: 492

Prezzo: 17€

Trama: Summer Preston ha un sogno: diventare psicologa sportiva. Ma per ottenere un posto nel master che la porterà a realizzarlo, è costretta a collaborare con Aiden Crawford, il capitano della squadra di hockey. Summer odia l’hockey con tutta se stessa e si trova intrappolata tra realizzare il sogno di una vita e allontanarsi da quello sport che detesta. Per Aiden, essere il capitano della squadra di hockey del college ha i suoi vantaggi, tranne quando uno sciocco errore rischia di mettere a repentaglio la sua intera stagione. Per tirarsi fuori dai guai, è costretto a farsi nominare dal suo allenatore oggetto di una ricerca. È l’ultima cosa che vorrebbe, soprattutto quando la ragazza a capo del progetto sembra voler brandire i suoi pattini come un’arma. Per Summer la disinvoltura di Aiden è irritante; per Aiden l’approccio rigido e programmato di Summer di una noia mortale. Sembra che i due siano capaci solamente di provocarsi a vicenda. Ma hanno in comune più di quanto credano: nessuno dei due è disposto ad accettare una sconfitta e scontrandosi faranno scintille.

Serie di autoconclusivi:

1. Collide

2. Spiral
... da continuare

Recensione:

Voto: 2.75 stelle!

Collide è un hockey romance carino, con una coppia dolce e un gruppo di amici interessanti, ma che sfortunatamente non è riuscito a entrarmi nel cuore. 

È un romanzo che viene consigliato a chi ha apprezzato Icebreaker, che a me non ha convinto (vi lascio la mai recensione qui, se siete interessat*). Quindi la domanda del come mai ho deciso di leggerlo è lecita, ma devo ammettere che mi fido poche volte dei paragoni e visto che di Icebreaker non avevo apprezzato lo stile della scrittrice questo non significava che Collide non dovesse piacermi di principio.

Dopo la lettura devo dire che il libro della Khabra è migliore a livello di trama, la coppia è anche più carina, ma a livello di struttura narrativa ha dei problemi simili a quelli del libro della Grace. 

Per spiegare meglio gli elementi che non mi hanno convinto ho deciso di fare una specie di elenco a punti:

Il progetto universitario che porta al loro incontro. Trovo che la scrittrice sia stata bravissima a introdurre i protagonisti nei primi due capitoli. Summer ci viene presentata come una studentessa modello, ma che sente la pressione della competizione per avere il posto nel dottorato che sogna da anni e mettendosi a paragone con altri studenti non si sente all'altezza. Aiden è un giocatore di hockey sul vertice del burnout per colpa di tutti gli impegni e la pressione che subisce per il suo ruolo anche da capitano-babysitter della squadra. Essendo il progetto di Summer sul burnout è ovvio che anche se Aiden è stato costretto a partecipare questo possa aiutarlo. Quindi le premesse erano ottime, pensavo che la motivazione del progetto avrebbe anche influito sull'evoluzione del loro rapporto, ma invece diventa un argomento di sfondo. Il progetto, che dovrebbe essere il centro della storia, non è assolutamente preso in considerazione. Vediamo Aiden solo compilare un semplice questionario e andando avanti viene nominato qualche volta, ma si svolge completamente off-screen. Il burnout di Aiden che potrebbe essere veramente interessante da approfondire viene nominato solo nel suo capitolo di presentazione e poi mai più trattato come argomento.

Il progetto di Summer è importane, ma più della sua realizzazione si parla della sua approvazione finale. 

Mi avevano molto colpito i problemi iniziali di Summer, perché sono pressioni interne che ho percepito anch'io nella mia vita, ma poi il fulcro del discorso è stato concentrato su altro, anzi proprio su un argomento simile a quello che subisce anche la protagonista di Icebreaker. 

L'evoluzione del rapporto tra i protagonisti. Come ho detto nel paragrafo precedente mi aspettavo che il progetto facesse da leva sui due per passare tempo assieme e iniziare così ad avvicinarsi e questo non avviene. Rispetto a Icebreaker la relazione non inizia immediatamente, vengono impiegate più pagine, ma allo stesso tempo non mi sembra che ci siano così tante scene da giustificare il loro avvicinamento o comprendere da dove sia nato. 

Il tempo. Uno dei problemi che ho trovato nella storia della scrittrice è l'utilizzo del tempo. Tante volte non riuscivo a comprendere quanto tempo passava se non fino a metà capitolo quando finalmente veniva specificato. Questo non sarebbe stato un grande problema, se non fosse che tante volte i capitoli finiscono con una questione irrisolta, anche a metà discorso, e ti aspetti che girando pagina ci sia il continuo, quando in realtà non avviene. Ci sono alcuni argomenti che vengono introdotti, per poi essere quasi messi in pausa o addirittura mai sviluppati. 

Il gruppo di amici. Se anche Summer ha le sue amiche,  il vero gruppo di amici è formato maggiormente dalla squadra di hockey. Il problema che ho avuto inizialmente con loro è che vengono tutti introdotti insieme. Un gruppo dovrebbe essere composto da quattro, cinque personaggi in modo da poterli sviluppare tutti in modo appropriato. L'introduzione massiccia dei giocatori di hockey mi ha creato un po' di confusione per cercare di ricordarmi i nomi e le caratteristiche di tutti loro. Andando avanti la scrittrice fa capire da chi è composto il nucleo principale e anche se le loro scene sono divertenti, non ho mai percepito un legame profondo che li unisse. A un certo punto il protagonista dichiara chi è il suo migliore amico e non lo avrei mai detto per le poche scene che hanno condiviso. O ancora certe volte vengono introdotti dei problemi all'interno del gruppo che se inizialmente sembrano cose gravi per la persona coinvolta, poi vengono perdonate o dimenticate facilmente. Come se fosse avvenuto qualcosa off-screen.

Scene spicy. Personalmente troppe scene spicy mi annoiano. Soprattutto se non servono a niente all'interno della trama e Collide ne ha veramente tante che avrei tagliato. L'unico momento di vera gioia che ho provato è stato quando una scena spicy è finita close door. 

Il libro non è male, è anche carino, ma essendo un romance se la coppia non ti dice niente è inutile leggerlo. Summer e Aiden per come sono stati introdotti erano molto interessanti, ma queste caratteristiche che mi avevano accattivato sono state cancellate o modificate per portare le loro storie in altre direzioni. Il gruppo di amici mi ha fatto ridere in alcune occasioni, ma neanche loro sono riusciti a conquistarmi o a coinvolgermi particolarmente. 

Collide è un romanzo con una trama carina, ma che doveva essere sviluppato meglio a livello di struttura narrativa. 

- Camilla

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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

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