Title: The Graham Effect
Author: Elle Kennedy
Publisher: Bloom Books
Genre: Romance
Pages: 496
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤
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The Graham Effect
Gigi Graham has three goals: qualify for the national ice hockey team, win Olympic gold, and step out of her father’s shadow. But to qualify for the national team, she has to improve her game behind the net. And Luke Ryder can help her with that.
Ryder’s team just merged with the Briar’s ice hockey team and everyone hates each other. Not a good start to the new season. 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 when Gigi asks him to help her, she has to put in a good word for him.
One problem: the tension between the two is hard to ignore, even when practicing on the ice.
Review
The Graham Effect is the first book in The Campus Diaries, but it is a spin-off from the Off-campus book series. The Off-campus book series is about Hannah and Garrett Graham. The first book in the Campus Diaries is about their daughter Gigi. I realized that when I almost the series. I kind of regret that I am reading this series before the Off-campus series. You can still read it as a separate series, but I think it would be more fun to read the other series first.
I think this is the second book about ice hockey I read this year already. I have the feeling there are suddenly a lot of books about football and hockey players, but maybe that is just my algorithm. I absolutely know nothing about this sport. Although, I have the feeling I am learning a little bit about it, just by reading these kinds of books. Who says romance novels can’t be educational?
The story itself is fine. I think I preferred the first book ‘Mile High’ in the Windy City series. I think I liked that story a little bit better, but it is pretty similar. If you like the Windy City series, you will probably like this book as well. There is even a plot twist in this book, and I did not see it coming at all. I was expecting a huge fight and a break-up because that is what happens in 90% of romance novels. So I was definitely surprised when the exact opposite happened. I did not see it coming and I also thought it was a little weird. They were only together for a few months.
Most of the characters were likable. Well, at first there were a couple of annoying characters but as the story progressed, the more likable they became. Except for one person, Michael Klein, he is still the enemy. Gigi wants to step out of her father’s shadow because they also compare her to her father, who was also a hockey player. Which makes sense. She loves listening to Horizons (someone talking about nature) in the car or when she is stressed.
Luke Ryder wants to be called Ryder and not Luke. However, that suddenly changes later on in the story and everyone starts calling him Luke instead. The author also mentions a lot that he is six foot five (195 cm) and I don’t understand the obsession with someone’s height. Maybe it is because almost everyone is super tall in my country, so it is pretty normal to me. But I honestly don’t care if a man is 6 feet or 6 feet five.
It is one of those books that you can read pretty fast, it is fast-paced and the chapters are not too long. I am not a fan of longer chapters, because I never want to stop in the middle of a chapter.
I still have a couple of questions after reading this book. First I wonder if Gigi is ever going to make the National team. I was sort of expecting that she would become a part of the USA team at the end, but it never happened. Second, are Will and Beckett an item? Because that was very mysterious and vague. I was also surprised by how open the relationship between Gigi and her parents is because she had no shame in telling them that the sex was wonderful.
But overall, I liked this book. And because I still have questions, I will probably read the other books in the series as well. The only problem is, that they are not being published yet. The second book in the series will be published this year according to Goodreads. So I might pick up the OG series about Gigi’s parents and read those first.
If you have read the Windy City and liked that book, then this is the series for you.