Earl Grey Books

Two weeks ago, I fell into what I can only describe as some kind of vortex in which all I wanted to read was Rebecca Jenshak books. I’d never read her before and then within a week, I’d read six of them. So today, I’m here to share my thoughts on them and we’re just going to get right into it.

Wildcat (Wildcat Hockey #1)

Wild Ever After is technically where this whole thing started for me. I bought a paperback copy on sale in May as a ‘why not?’ purchase. It wasn’t until I went to start it towards the end of July that I realised it was book three. I like to read things in order, even when I don’t have to, so I loaded Wildcat onto my Kindle while I went away for the weekend.

Before I’d even gotten on my flight I’d read 25% of it and I was completely obsessed with it. I finished it off that afternoon. As I read more and more hockey romance, I’m realising that I love the coach’s daughter trope and so this one was right up my alley. I loved Leo—he’s such a sweet character and I love how ‘all-in’ he goes for Scarlet even though he knows it might affect his career. They’re really adorable together.

Before picking this one up, I hadn’t read anything for a few days and I’d felt extremely slumpy so finding something I couldn’t put down was exactly what I needed. As soon as I finished, I went and look into the rest of Jenshak’s books—knowing that I had book three waiting for me at home, I ended up going into the Campus Wallflower series.

Tutoring the Player (Campus Wallflowers #1)

I think this might be my favourite of Jenshak’s I’ve read so far. There’s just something about it that was so much fun. I absolutely loved Daisy and Jordan—they are just the absolute cutest. I love all the characters in this series actually, but these two are definitely up there.

I loved that Daisy and her friends all like Jane Austen, even if I don’t agree with some of their rankings of the adaptations. I think that part of their characters felt real to me because I’ve marathoned all of the Austen adaptations at different difficult points of my life too. It was a bit like, yes, I know that feeling!

This one only took me a few hours to get through too. It was a little cliche in parts, but it was a fun read as whole.

Hating the Player (Campus Wallflowers #2)

As soon as I finished Tutoring the Player, I knew I’d have to go into this one. I love a good enemies to lovers romance and I’d been really intrigued by Gavin and Violet’s interactions in the first one. They are really cute together so I had a lot of fun reading this one. I love Gavin, but I’m kind of lukewarm on Violet—I’m just still not over the way she treated Daisy in book one. At times, her guarded attitude just made her act like an awful person and that wasn’t that fun to read.

On the whole, I definitely enjoyed this one less than book one. I think partly because Violet’s fashion degree takes up a good amount of time. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s just not something I’m that interested in. I am going to need like a Pinterest board of her designs though, please and thank you RJ.

Scoring the Player (Campus Wallflowers #3)

I was SO excited to get to this one. From the little hints we’d seen of Felix, I knew I was going to like him. And I was right, I think he’s my favourite of all of RJ’s men that I’ve read so far. I just love the way he’s so kind to Dahlia and how he really tries to talk to her and make her feel comfortable. It’s so sweet. I was excited for Dahlia too because I’m also a really, really shy person and sometimes it’s nice to see that in books. She’s pretty cool too honestly.

I also love fake dating and I loved the fact that they both already like each other—it’s just some good old mutual pining. Again, I didn’t love the fashion aspect of this one just because I don’t really care about it. But otherwise, this was so much fun.

Wild About You (Wildcat Hockey #2)

This is definitely my least favourite of the bunch. I think switching from the more light-hearted, college fun of the Campus Wallflowers series to this one which is a little more serious was maybe not the best idea. I probably should’ve squeezed something else in between, but I didn’t.

I really liked Tyler in Wildcat and I was excited for his story, but this just didn’t really do it for me. The whole hiring of your ex-girlfriend as a nanny for your almost adult sister is beyond weird to me. I also felt really uncomfortable with the relationship between Everly and some of the other players. It’s meant to be sweet and supportive but at times, it made me feel very uncomfortable. I felt like it was setting her up to be with one of the players. Even though she turns 18 in this book, that still feels extremely creepy. I guess we’ll wait and see.

I wasn’t that fussed on Tyler and Piper’s relationship either. Honestly, the best moments were when we got to see Leo and Scarlet again. Speaking of which, this book did one of my least favourite things and that’s when characters meet the leads from other books just out of nowhere. Why did Piper have to know Scarlet and Jade before the book starts? It really made no logical sense. Anyway, that’s my little rant about that.

Wild Ever After (Wildcat Hockey #3)

I was a little apprehensive about this one once I finally got to it. I’m not the biggest fan of marriage of convenience stories outside of historical romance, but I wanted to give it a shot. I didn’t love it either, so book one is definitely my favourite of this series so far.

I actually didn’t dislike the marriage plot. But I didn’t really feel anything for the characters. Declan is fine, if a little boring. He’s probably one of the most normal characters—I feel like he just wants to play hockey and renovate his house and that’s it. I liked Jade in the other books but now that she was at the head, I kind of hated her. She’s very focused on her job, but to the point that it makes her selfish and rude. I couldn’t see the connection between them like I had with all the other couples and ultimately I just didn’t really enjoy it.

So that’s all of them. I’m a little sad there are still a few weeks before the fourth book is out in either of these series, but I think I probably need a bit of a break too. Have you ever read any Rebecca Jenshak? Or any other authors back-to-back like this?