THE CHASE (Briar U #1) by ELLE KENNEDY

“Don’t go…”
“Give me a reason not to…”

Elle Kennedy has written some of our favourite college sports romance books in the Off-Campus series. We never fail to fall in love with the characters, their passion and banter as well as the hilarious shenanigans. She’s an awesome writer and once again we read one of her books cover to cover in one sitting.

“She’s too everything…She’s too beautiful. She’s got too much energy. She’s too open…Everybody is drawn to her. Everybody.”

We loved Summer, she was adorable, endearing, funny and sassy. Whilst she has her personal struggles she oozed strength yet had a vulnerability and self-doubt which made us feel really emotionally protective of her. She’s a bit of a contradiction, what with her lack of self-confidence mixed in with her super extrovert tendencies.

‘Fitzy is short for Colin Fitzgerald, and he just happens to be THE UNICORN. The tall, sexy tattooed, hockey-playing unicorn of a man who I might have a teeny-weeny itsy-bitsy crush on. Okay, fine. A big motherfucking crush on.’

Oh how we love, Fitz (sorry but we just can’t call this sexpot, Colin, HA!). He’s a large, imposing and sexy tatted gamer nerd and everyone knows what a lethal combo this is for us. He too has his own demons stemming from his childhood which makes him a reluctant introvert and a man of few words. He was an absolute arse at times and needed a good smack round the head but when it counts, he’s oh so lush-ious!

“I don’t want to be with a woman who hides in the shadows with me, because that enables me to keep hiding.”

Summer and Fitz have a lot of personal issues to work through in order to join each other on the romantic path of love and happiness which is what we lurveee being part of. Theirs is an odd, funny and angsty road which at times lost us a bit as the romance became secondary to other characters, but fundamentally we craved for them to get together as there was no question of their love for one another once the numerous added interruptions were out of the spotlight.

‘For the first time ever, I truly feel like I’m living life instead of hiding in the shadows.’

Our favourite bits in The Chase was being back with the gang, the comedic nuggets and the silly banter. We were brought back to what we love about this Author and her books. For us we also loved how this story is all about #GirlPower, as the female characters shone as they dealt with issues that don’t get enough airtime. No question, we will now count the days for Brenna’s story!

‘She has the kind of smile that makes a man want to start writing very bad poetry.’

We do wish there would’ve been more in depth character interaction between Fitz and Summer, it came late in the story and whilst we completely connected with them individually it took us a while to connect to them as a couple as well as the storyline. Saying that though, we did enjoy it and loved the characters. The latter part of Summer and Fitz’s story was definitely the highlight for us and we can’t wait for more of this series.

“What do you think, Summer? You want me to kiss you?”