The Chase (Briar U #1) by Elle Kennedy

 The Chase (Briar U #1) by Elle Kennedy is currently free for download on Amazon Kindle, so if that’s your jam, go get it. It’s the first in the Briar U quartet, but it’s a spin off from a series called Off-Campus, so if you’re into college athletes in your romance novels, this is a rabbit hole for you.

I bought this book years ago because it was available for free on Kindle and I tend to download free romance novels willy-nilly because I can. Apparently I read the first 10% and stopped and I totally understand why past NGS did that because the first part of this book is absolute nonsense, but this time I persevered and it turned into a pretty good book.

Summer is a transfer student to Briar U after her career at Brown flamed out spectacularly. She becomes roommates with a bunch of hockey players, one of whom is Fitz. You know how things go. Pretty soon there's romance in the air.

Interesting characters: I really like Summer. She's got some issues with ADHD and finding focus in her life. She believes in building up women. I love the scene where she gets mad at a woman for calling another woman a slut:

"'Do you realize how many decades you set us back every time you call another girl a slut? We've spent years fighting to not be viewed as sexual objects or be judged and shamed if we happen to enjoy sex. It's bad enough that men still do this to us. When you do it too, it sends the message that it's fair game for women to be treated this way.'" (page 193)

She's also really fun to be around and a good friend. I just thought Summer was someone I would want to be friends with and that's a rarity in these types of "New Adult" romance novels.

Fitz was kind of boring, but I think we can all agree that a ripped, tattoo hockey player doesn't have to have a personality to be the object of our desire, right?

Believable conflict: Hm. What was the conflict here? Oh, right.  Fitz is sexually attracted to Summer, but doesn't want to deal with the drama that follows her around. Fitz is a doofus. I didn't like this because it's not clear to me how it got solved. 

(There's also a side plot about sexual harassment from a professor that I think should have been left out. It was done quickly and wasn't substantial enough to be useful for folks suffering from similar situations and it took away from the main romantic storyline.)

Emotional tension: I mean, I do want good things for Summer. I just think she can do better than this guy.

Happily ever after: It's sort of happy. I mean, they're together, but they haven't done the hard stuff yet - meeting the parents, figuring out how to fix the roommate situation they've gotten themselves into, how Summer's going to fix her reputation.  But I guess there are three more books in the series, so Kennedy probably delves into some of that later on.

Lines I Highlighted:

"I don't consider myself a radical feminist. I don't believe men are evil demons from hell and should be purged from society - I think men have lots of good things to offer the world.. Their dicks are fabulous, for one." (page 121)

Preach it, sister.

"My inner critic is, frankly, a bitch." (page 162)

We are each our own harshest critics.

"Silencing the inner critics borders on the impossible. For me, at least." (page 162)

Spiraling thoughts of my own ineptitude are pretty common for me. I like how Kennedy wrote this character - she's honest with herself about her bad qualities, but she's still successful. 

Despite a slow start and a lackluster hero I would give it 4/5 stars.