While Hartley is mending from a break, she is never going to walk unaided or have sensation in her leg and feet again.

There is very little self-pity in Corey and whatever sadness she does feel is entirely deserved. The downside is that he has a long distance girlfriend. The up-upside is that Hartley, a dreamy member of the mens’ hockey team, has a badly broken leg and is living in his own accessible room across the hall. The upside is that she gets a bigger room and has a great roommate. She has arrived as a freshman at the school she was meant to play hockey for, but now she is living in the wheelchair accessible part of the dorm.

The Fifteenth Minute – a misstep, skip itĬorey was a star athlete until a career ending and life-changing injury transformed her plans.

The Shameless Hour – “You don’t get to tell me who I am.”.

The Understatement of the Year – Surrender.

Blonde Date novella – YAY! Short and sweet and adorable and added to my classics list.

The Year We Hid Away – That’s a lot for two such young people to have going on.

The Year We Fell Down – BAM! This book got me right in the feels.My experience of university may not have matched this jock heavy world, but since the beauty of a large student body is in creating its own neighbourhoods, I don’t mind all the sports, plus it justifies the ripped heroes. Each story features at least one character who is an athlete, mostly they are involved in hockey, but there are also soccer and basketball team members, and the football players are the villains. These are young people coming into their own and figuring out who they want to be. Taking place at a New England college, Harkness, the stories are not light and yet avoid melodrama.

I recommend The Ivy Years series by Sarina Bowen and will be looking into her back catalogue. So many “ new adult” romances, so little time.

The Year We Hid Away by Sarina Bowen