Book Review: The Risk

I’ve officially been sucked in to the Briar U series by Elle Kennedy. Last week when I wrote my review for The Chase I had said that I hadn’t originally planned to read the spin-off series to the Off-Campus series, but when I found out that The Chase was about Summer and Fitzy, I had to read it. The same thing happened with this second book in the series, The Risk. In The Chase we’re introduced to Brenna Jensen. She’s the daughter of hockey coach, Chad Jensen, who readers of the Off-Campus series do know. Summer and Brenna quickly became best friends in The Chase.

The Risk follows Brenna and her relationship with Jake Connelly, who we briefly meet in The Chase. Jake is a top hockey player, but a rival to Briar, playing for Harvard. When we meet him in The Chase he is friends with an old prep school friend of Summer’s. Besides being known for his hockey talents, he’s also known for hooking up with lots of girls. In the brief exchanges between him and Brenna they don’t get along and just throw shade at one another.

One of the background storylines in The Chase is Brenna hooking up with a Harvard player. When The Risk starts, Jake is captain of the Harvard team and gives his team a whole talking to about focusing on the rest of their season so they can try to make it to the finals. He tells them all they need to cut out all distractions which means less partying, less drinking, less sex etc. He basically ends things between Brenna and his teammate, McCarthy, so he can focus. So while Brenna wasn’t ever serious about McCarthy she is annoyed that Jake is in her business.

Happy to never have to interact with Jake again, she finds herself actually needing his help. Brenna’s dream is to become a sports broadcaster/reporter. However, it’s extremely hard for females to get into sports reporting. While interviewing for a job at HockeyNet, her potential boss pays no attention to her and just sees her as a pretty girl that has nothing to offer to sports. When she finds out he’s obsessed with the Edmonton Oilers, she tells him she’s dating Jake Connelly. Jake has signed to be a rookie for the Oilers next year. Well, that finally gets the guy’s attention and he asks her to come in for another interview.

Now, she has to get Jake to be her fake boyfriend…

As a private person who uses red lipstick as her armor, will Brenna let Jake in past her defenses? Will Jake let himself fall for Brenna when he just lectured his teammates on distractions?

I really enjoyed this one and I think Brenna and Jake go together really well. They understand each other and I love how Jake isn’t threatened by Brenna’s knowledge of hockey and supports her dreams. There’s also a lot about Brenna’s background and teen years which has effected her relationship with her father. Jake is the first person she has trusted with her story and I loved that he felt protective of her, but also knows how strong she is and knows she can also take care of herself.

At this point, you know I’ll be reading the rest of the series!