There was a time when ice hockey romance was a niche interest.

Now Prime's Off Campus has arrived, the Briar University boys are everywhere and people who have never knowingly watched a hockey match are suddenly expressing very firm opinions about Garrett Graham.

Entirely for professional reasons, I watched the series.

And, irritatingly, it was rather lovely.

What books is Prime's Off Campus based on?

The series begins with The Deal by Elle Kennedy.

Hannah Wells needs help attracting the attention of another man. Garrett Graham, college hockey star and owner of the kind of confidence usually found only in men who have never struggled to open a jar, needs help passing an exam.

She tutors him. He helps her with her love life. They agree that this is a practical arrangement.

The reader, having encountered a romance novel before, knows better.

The complete Off-Campus series is:

The Deal
Garrett and Hannah. Tutoring, fake dating's slightly less organised cousin and the beginning of the entire Briar University situation.

The Mistake
Logan and Grace. Regret, second chances and the difficult discovery that charm is not a substitute for making an effort.

The Score
Dean and Allie. A man with absolutely no intention of falling in love proceeds to do so very enthusiastically.

The Goal
Tucker and Sabrina. An unexpected pregnancy, difficult decisions and rather more emotional maturity than Sabrina initially expects from a hockey player.

The Legacy
A return visit to all four couples, because apparently none of us was emotionally prepared to let them graduate and get on with their lives.

The series is funny, glossy, romantic and very definitely written for adults.

Spice level: approximately 4/5.
These are open-door romances. Doors exist, but they are rarely being used for privacy.

What should I read after the Off Campus series?

Elle Kennedy did not build one fictional university full of implausibly attractive hockey players and then simply walk away from it.

Readers can continue with the Briar U series:

The Chase
The Risk
The Play
The Dare

Then come the Campus Diaries books:

The Graham Effect
The Dixon Rule
The Charlie Method

These take us into a new generation of college romance while maintaining the important Briar traditions of hockey, emotional confusion and young adults making extremely poor decisions in very expensive accommodation.

Spice level: approximately 4/5 
Still explicit. Still open-door. Still not something we recommend reading on a crowded bus unless your ability to maintain a neutral expression is exceptional.

Is there a queer hockey romance like Off Campus?

For readers who have finished Elle Kennedy's college hockey world, we strongly recommend the books she wrote with Sarina Bowen.

Him follows Jamie Canning and Ryan Wesley, former best friends who meet again years after one complicated night changed their relationship.

They reconnect at a hockey training camp. Feelings remain. Communication is attempted. Hockey players discover, once again, that being able to read an opposing team's strategy does not mean they can identify their own emotions.

Us continues their story beyond the first rush of romance and into the more difficult business of building a life together.

The books have chemistry, warmth, friendship and enormous heart. They are also a reminder that queer sports romance did not suddenly appear with a television adaptation. Readers have been recommending these books to one another for years.

Spice level: 4/5
Explicit, emotional and considerably more tender than the word "hockey" might initially suggest.

There is also Epic, a novella that revisits Jamie and Wes, because romance readers may forgive many things, but they will not forgive being denied an update on a beloved couple.

Why is hockey romance so popular right now?

Perhaps it is the contrast.

On the ice, the characters are competitive, physical and certain of their role. Off the ice, they have to communicate, apologise, trust another person and occasionally admit that they have no idea what they are doing.

It is the fantasy of strength without cruelty and confidence without control?

Also, there are the shoulders.

We are serious booksellers, but we are not dishonest ones.

And if the series has given you a fresh appetite for a good love story, you will not be short of company on our shelves our pick of love stories for romantics and cynics has plenty more where this came from.

So whether you arrived through Prime's Off Campus, Elle Kennedy's Briar University empire or years of telling everyone to read Him, the hockey romance section is ready for you.

No knowledge of the sport is required.

Buy The Deal

Buy The Mistake

Buy The Score

Buy The Goal

Buy The Legacy