The Off-Campus Series by Elle Kennedy

With Elle Kennedy's books coming out as a series on Amazon Prime, I figured I should read them and find out what the fuss is about. - Lynnie 

The Deal  

The Deal was better than I expected, though I don’t know why. 

The basic premise seems to be this: hot college hockey players who can sleep with any girls they wish, and the girls who claim to want nothing to do with them. But then, suddenly, the players fall hard and fast for said girls and find that they really ARE guys who want to be in committed relationships. Repeat as needed for however many books are written.

I liked all the characters. There was fun banter and they generally acted appropriate for college-aged kids (even if I thought they had way too much disposable income); sometimes, they even acted more mature than college kids might have. But, I enjoyed the found family dynamic of the hockey team and I just thought Hannah and Garrett were delightful. I don’t love how obsessive Garrett’s attention was once he decided that Hannah was the one for him. I never think that’s a great way to model relationships for young folks, but at least they also had him give her some respectful space once in a while. I also thought it was weird how much all of the other characters sexualized Hannah. Was it realistic? Probably, but it was also bizarre and kind of gross.

Anyway, I can see why they are making this into a tv series- I’m sure it will be super popular 

 

The Mistake 

These are easy books to read - like cotton candy for the brain; you just take it in and it dissolves into nothing, before you know it, it's gone.

I liked Logan and Grace a lot in The Mistake, but again this relationship was a bit obsessive and over the top. I did like that, once Logan decided to pursue Grace for real, he put the breaks on and started to take things slowly and be respectful of her and himself and just enjoy their time together so they could really get to know each other.

I also continued to enjoy the friendships between the hockey players themselves and how they support one another. At a time when we bemoan the lack of male friendships, it's nice to see it in a fictionalized world, even if it's written by a woman.

I would have LOVED these books when I was younger. As an (ahem) older reader, I’m less tolerant of all the manufactured drama. Every single character has some sort of trauma or situation that is supposed to tug at your heartstrings or make us feel sorry for them, which is exhausting in its own way.  

  

The Score 

I’m surprised how much I liked Dean and Allie’s story in The Score. Before this book I didn’t really like either of them very much, but I really did like Dean in this book, particularly how enamored he was with Allie. For someone whose life has just always been easy, I just found him delightful; maybe because he’s the only character in these books who doesn’t come from a tragic background or have a potentially tragic future.

This series is just fluff- easy to read, not particularly challenging and grossly unrealistic, but fun. Beautiful people doing sexy things surrounded by best friends. What’s not to like? I totally see the appeal and why they are turning this into a tv series. This will be this generation's 90210 and Melrose Place all wrapped into one, but sexier.

 

The Goal 

The Goal is not my favorite book of the series, but it was fine. I liked Tucker a lot and Sabrina was fine, but again, more sad backgrounds and potentially tragic futures. But no! They will learn to trust one another & make their futures brighter! Rinse and repeat. 

I might have liked it better if I hadn’t read it right after the others in the series, but I did. This is a fun series, but it really is the same story over and over. It makes me laugh that even the person who designed the book cover might feel the same way; poor Tucker doesn't even get to kiss Sabrina on his book cover, he just has to hold her hand and stare longingly at her!

Seriously though, all the guys in this series are weirdly obsessive and I didn't like that at all. Ladies, that is not what you should be looking for in a relationship. It's cute in fiction, but in real life, it's called stalking.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick

Amy    

historical fiction, women’s fiction

Four neighbors start a book club in the early 1960s. They are housewives living in a strictly-planned, new community outside of Washington, DC. Through the friendships forged and the information they absorbed in their first book, the groundbreaking The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, they support one another under the oppressive conditions that exist for women of their time. 

The characters in The Book Club for Troublesome Women were fun to get to know and the story was a good reminder of how recently women gained the right to do things that younger generations currently take for granted, like having their own bank account. The story felt very authentic to the time period. The last 20% was the best part as the women began to take more control of their own lives.

Unfortunately, this is the third book about women’s book clubs that I’ve read this year (and it’s only mid-April) so it’s a lot of the same thing, just set in a different time period than the other two novels. While I enjoyed it, this one was the least interesting overall to me, compared to the other two. But I think Marie Bostwick’s book is especially good for women under age 50 to read if they aren’t already familiar with the struggle of women in the mid-20th century.

The audiobook narrator, Lisa Flanagan, was by turns awful and magnificent. As with many narrators, she’s guilty of sounding like a robot during the omniscient narrator sections. In fact, she’s so robotic that, at first, I wondered if she was AI and not a real human. But her voice acting and vocal repertoire was terrific when she was voicing actual characters. So, since her overall performance was so polarizing, I think I’ll give her a B. Looking back at other audiobooks she’s narrated that I’ve listened to, the robot narrator is a very common complaint of mine about her.

Go Gentle by Maria Semple

Lynnie 

contemporary fiction

I was a big fan of Maria Semple's Where'd You Go Bernadette so I was very exciting to read Go Gentle when I saw it was coming out. Make no mistake, Go Gentle is nothing like Bernadette - which is not a bad thing by any stretch. Sure, both are about incredibly bright, independent women with precocious daughters, but that's about it.

Go Gentle is, at times, captivating. Adora Hazzard (what a wonderful name!) is a stoic philosopher, living the life I imagine that every philosopher dreams of — she has a fellowship at a museum and library in NYC, where she researches and writes her books in the library and "provides moral training" for the twin tween sons of the museum's wealthy benefactors. She also has assembled her own "coven" of women, a Golden Girls-esque group who are buying up the apartments in her building to share expenses and grow old supporting one another, in what I believe is every woman's not-so-secret dream. She's a hero!

Then of course, things take a turn for the weird. Suddenly, there is intrigue, potential international espionage and the events of her past (which she has put behind her so thoroughly that most people around her know little to nothing about them) come back and blow of up her life in ways she couldn't imagine.

I really liked Adora, her daughter, Viv, and the members of her coven. I could've read an entire book focused only on that aspect of her life. Frankly, I found the intrigue and mystery parts of the book a bit convoluted at times. The book is split into four sections and there is one section that I felt was almost entirely unnecessary. If we never had the section with her ex-husband, I think the book would have flowed more smoothly and he wouldn't have been missed. I understood why it was there, moving forward and all that, but I also felt like it slowed down an otherwise fast-moving story.

Still, time with Adora Hazzard is time well spent. I loved her life philosophies and enjoyed watching her try to share the teachings of stoicism with young people, because that always goes over well, doesn't it? Still, it's fun to watch everything come together in the end and I'll look forward to Semple's next adventure just as much!

Thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons, NetGalley and Maria Semple for the advanced reader copy. 

The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao

Lynnie 

contemporary fantasy, magical realism

This is the second book I've read by Samantha Sotto Yambao, and her writing is absolutely gorgeous. I loved the first book of hers I read, Water Moon, so I was really looking forward to this one.

The Elsewhere Express is a unique train that finds people who are adrift. You can't find the Elsewhere Express, it finds you after you've "drifted away from your own life." Once aboard you can find your purpose, peace and belonging. All you have to do is agree to cast away your excess baggage - all the guilt, shame and the memories of your earthly life. 

Raya, was born to save her sick brother. When he died, she gave up all her dreams to live the life he was supposed to live. Q is an artist who has lost his own place in the world. When they meet aboard the train, they rely on each other to find their place among the fascinating world of the train and to solve the mystery of the stowaway that seems to have boarded the train with them, endangering the Elsewhere Express and everyone on board. 

Yambao has created a truly fascinating universe. I was captivated by the train and the people who lived there. In some ways, the people were secondary to the train itself, which was the most fascinating character. I was eager to find out what would happen to Raya and Q. There is some mystery and tension with the stowaway and another aspect of the story that I can't share without giving too much away. There is also some time loop shenanigans that Yambao never really explains well which is unfortunate, because it leaves the ending a little muddled after what was really a fascinating and beautiful story.  

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon

Lynnie

science fiction

Harold and Edie have lived in their home for 40 years. Once, their daughter Kate lived there. But she left after an incident in her youth and hasn't been back for many years. Harold collects and repairs first edition books and reads aloud to his dying wife, surrounded by the sentient appliances in their smart home who quietly tend to the many needs of their humans. The appliances, Harold, Kate and a young neighbor, Adrian, must come together to save themselves from the all-controlling Grid, or lose everything they've ever know.

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances was an interesting story, but I couldn't shake the feeling that this would have benefited from some serious editing. I loved the appliances -- their earnestness, their interactions and their faithfulness to each other and their humans. It was the humans who I had a tough time caring about. With the exception of young Adrian, I didn't really find much to grab onto with Glenn Dixon's human characters. I never really understood who Harold or Kate were or why I should care about either of them other than, you know, people good / Grid bad. 

I also felt that the Grid was never well defined as the bad guy. I understood what Dixon was trying to accomplish, and what the message was with the Grid, but it was never quite as menacing as it could have been. Lots of telling, very little showing. So overall, I felt like this story had loads of potential, but I was left unsatisfied in the end.

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances will publish on April 7, 2026.

Thanks to Atria Books, NetGalley and Glenn Dixon for the advanced copy.