Briar U Series in Order: The Complete Guide

Briar U is an exciting fiction story about a group of college students who are young, immature, and fun-loving, just like any other college group. This Series is penned by a renowned author, “Elle Kennedy,” who is a New York Times and international best-selling author. The Series falls in the category of the contemporary Romance genre, keeping readers engaged till the story ends.

The Series is not dragged with unnecessary sequels, so the interest is preserved while reading. The Series has four books, and each can be read either in the publishing order or as a standalone. Oh, I love such books that are in a series but are standalone too.

What do you prefer reading? This Series is suitable for readers aged 18 years or above because it has some explicit content, drug usage, and violent scenes.

Order of the Books in the Series:

Book Number	Books Name	Published Date	Genre	ISBN-10	ISBN-13
Book#1	The Chase	August 4, 2018	Sports Romance	1724821997	978-1724821997
Book#2	The Risk	February 18, 2019	Sports Romance	177529398X	978-1775293989
Book#3	The Play	October 7, 2019	Sports Romance	1999549767	978-1999549763
Book#3.5	The Play’s Bonus Epilogue	January 1, 2019	Sports Romance	Nil	Nil
Book#4	The Dare	June 16, 2020	Sports Romance	1777112133	978-1777112134

Main Characters in the Series:

Through a variety of people who struggle with love, friendship, and what it means to be yourself, Elle Kennedy’s Briar U series tells a fantastic story.

Summer Di Laurentis (The Chase):

Summer in The Lead: I threw myself into the first book of Elle Kennedy’s Briar U series. But things become peculiar when she becomes involved in a hide-and-seek game with Fitz. In this adventure, misunderstandings and self-discovery are brought into focus.

Fitzgerald “Fitz” Donovan (The Chase):

In the Briar U series, we Encounter Fitz, a hunky playboy who is a star on the hockey team. While he may be handsome and talented on the outside, Fitz’s relaxed and easygoing exterior beats the heart of a broken man. Throughout the story, we learn more about Fitz’s personality, and he has a gradual and tense love affair with Summer.

Brenna Jensen (The Risk):

The second book in the Briar U series introduces us to Brenna, a courageous girl assisting with a special mission by a confident Jake Connelly. It’s just like a love story, with twists and turns and growing up together.

Hunter Davenport (The Play):

In this part, we learn about Hunter, a sports player who doesn’t like relationships. He faces inner struggles, and his unexpected friendship with Demi creates an exciting story where we discover more about him.

Connor Hayes (The Dare):

In the last book, Connor loves to party, and Taylor has no friends in her sorority. A dare evolves into something more, and now they’re hooked–on each other. Each of the series ‘characters has a story of interest. Yet Summer and Fitz are in a slow-burning romance. And then there’s Brenna, whose boldness and sassiness give the books their character.

Recommended Reading Order of the Books:

There is no recommended reading order for the series, as these can be standalone books, too. However, some characters, like Brenna, Hunter, and Conor, are recurring from the previous books. It’ll be more fun to read about them if you already know the characters and have an idea about their previous role in the story. But the choice is still yours. Either begin from top to bottom or bottom to top. Whatever way you would like to read them!

Series in Order with Publication Description:

The Chase

Summary:

The story begins at a fictional University, Briar, where Summer Heyward-Di Laurentis is admitted after an unfortunate incident at her previous university. Here, she shares a room with three hockey players: Colin Fitzgerald (Fitzy), Hunter, and Hollis. Gradually, Summer gets attracted to Fitzy, but he doesn’t seem interested in her because he thinks she is not her type. Fitzy is really into video games and arts and plans to launch his game once the university ends.

Summer is a happy-go-lucky kind of girl, popularly known as a “party girl,” while Fitzy is an introvert with a reserved personality. As the story progresses, Fitzy starts developing some affection for Summer, but it seems he’s too late now. But why? Because she has moved on and is getting interested in her roommate, Hunter now.

Summer is struggling at her school as she has ADHD, which causes hindrance in her schooling, and she requires some extra help for that. But this disorder does not make her hide inside the borrow; rather, she’s trying hard to get better with every passing day. Summer is fortunate enough to have supportive friends and family who make things less miserable for her.

Later in the story, Fitzy falls for her despite trying to maintain a distance from Summer, and now there’s a love triangle between Summer, Fitzy, and Hunter. Summer is hanging out with Hunter and meets Fitzy. Maybe she is confused about who to choose out of the two. Who do you think Summer will end up with?

Publisher	CreateSpace
Language	English
Hardcover	368 Pages
Characters	Colin Fitzgerald, Summer Di Laurentis

Summer becomes really good friends with Brenna, the daughter of a hockey coach at their school. Brenna is helpful towards Summer, which only makes their friendship deeper daily. Brenna and Summer’s roommate Hollis start seeing each other, but this does not last longer because Brenna…

Any guess? Well, I am not spoiling it for you. Let’s read the next book.

The Risk:

Summary:

The Risk is another book in the series of delightful sports romances at Briar University. Brenna, the daughter of Briar’s hockey coach, starts dating McCarthy, a team player in Harvard’s hockey team. Briar and Harvard’s hockey teams play in opposition, making McCarthy a rival, but this does not stop Brenna from dating her.

Jake, who is the captain of Harvard’s team, warns Brenna to leave McCarthy as his performance is going to dogs in the hockey tournaments, but she refuses to listen to Jake. But later, McCarthy dumps Brenna.

Jake and Brenna have multiple encounters, and Jake is somewhat drawn to Brenna. They both meet at a party and pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend in front of a stranger who tries to approach Brenna. Later, they go on a fake date as well. Brenna is thankful to Jake for making her feel secure and wants to return the favor.

Jake proposes going on a real date, to which she agrees. While all this is happening, Brenna’s father is unaware that she is dating a rival and has no idea how he would react after knowing this. But things worked out between them with Jake’s help.

Publisher	Elle Kennedy
Language	English
Hardcover	408 Pages
Characters	Brenna Jensen, Jake Conelly

A girl, Hazel, comes in between Jake and Brenna and tries to mess things up for them as she is interested in Jake. Jake and Brenna break up for now, but there’s a surprise at the end of the book. Do you have any idea what the turn in the story will be? Hint: Some reunions might take place.

The Play:

Summary:

Do you Remember Hunter from the book “The Chase” of this series? Yes, you got it right. He was Colin and Summer’s roommate, and what else? Of course, he was someone Summer was dating, too, but he wasn’t loved how he deserved to be. Summer left Hunter for Colin, and now he was not dating anyone.

Briar University’s hockey team faced some challenges last year, and as Hunter became the hockey team captain, he decided to focus only on this sport rather than women. But destiny had some plans for Hunter in the store.

Demi Devis has a boyfriend but broke up with him and was looking for someone again. Hunter and Demi got paired up in a project in Psych class for a semester and became really good friends. Later, they get closer and are in a relationship now. Hunter breaks his promise of staying away from women and ends up with Demi because he thinks his hockey performance isn’t connected to it.

Demi’s father wants her to return to Miami and study medicine, but she wants to stay in Boston and become a therapist. Eventually, she successfully convinces his father to continue her dream job. Demi and Hunter have a subtle romance and are happy with each other. Their bond gets deeper as the story moves towards the end. You can best New read of the Month.

Publisher	Elle Kennedy Inc
Language	English
Hardcover	402 Pages
Character	Hunter Davenport, Demi Davis

The Dare:

Summary:

This is the 4th and last book in the sports romance series “Briar U.” Conor Edwards is a hockey player and a manwhore by character. Taylor Marsh is part of a Sorority community and has insecurities about her body image. The Sorority committee arranges a party, and Taylor is a part of it. She was making her way out of the party when one of the committee members, who also happens to be her rival, gave her a Dare. The dare is to seduce the hot guy Conor, who is in their class.

Taylor, who already doubts her body-image, is reluctant to do it for many reasons. One is that she is too shy, and the other is underestimating herself that Jake is too hot to even look at her. She talks to Conor, telling him about the dare she has to fulfill. To her surprise, Conor amusingly agrees.

They create a fake scenario as if they were sleeping together and help Taylor complete the dare. Later, they started talking and flirting with each other, and this fake relationship was turning into something else.

Taylor has a self-perception that she is ugly and doesn’t have a beautiful face. She has struggled with losing some extra pounds of weight, too. On the other hand, Conor’s ex-friend shows up and reminds him of some things that Conor did in the past.

Publisher	Elle Kennedy
Language	English
Hardcover	352 Pages
Character	Connor Edwards

He feels guilty about them and perceives himself as a bad person. Both Taylor and Conor have negative self-perceptions about themselves. Taylor and Conor’s friendship grows deeper with time, and they have a satisfying relationship.

This marks the end of the Briar University era! You can check It Ends with US by Colleen Hoover.

Overview of the Series:

I wanted some space from fantasy reads, so I decided to pick up a series for some change, and I am glad I picked up this one. The best about this series is that the author hasn’t introduced too many characters, keeping the focus on the main characters. Each storyline has a college romance among young college students who are easily infatuated with each other. I liked Summer and Colin’s growing bond, but I didn’t get the point of Summer dating two boys at a time. If she liked Colin, why would she date Hunter as well? I wouldn’t say I like love triangles because, ultimately, one of them gets heartbroken.

I found the storylines of “The Risk” and “The Dare” somewhat similar. Both start as fake and pretentious relationships between Brenna and Jake (The Risk) and Taylor and Conor (The Dare) and end up getting into real ones. I was waiting for some twist but was left disappointed. 

Overall, it was a light read with some humor in between that kept me reading until the end of the series.

Favorite Quotes from the Series:

1. She’s, my muse. She’s, my laughter. She’s, my trigger. She’s, my desire. But most of all, she’s, my heart.”
2. “She has the kind of smile that makes a man want to start writing very bad poetry. Dazzling and genuine and as beautiful as the rest of her.”
3. “But this girl, the gorgeous woman in my lap—I’m definitely in love with her. I love everything about her. Her intelligence, her sassiness, her craziness. She has the most dynamic personality. There are so many different facets to Demi Davis, and the more I learn about her, the more I love her.”
4. “I truly believe that all body types are beautiful. It’s only when I look in the mirror that I forget.”

FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions):

Conclusion:

“Briar U” is a New Adult Romance Series set up in a university in Boston named “Briar University.” I would give it 4 stars after my reading experience. The story is a sports romance among young college students from different backgrounds in the first book. “The Chase,” “the opposite attracts,” sits perfectly for Summer and Fitzy. With time, their friendship gets better as they help each other.

The book represents ADHD, and the support Summer gets from her family and friends is commendable. This helped Summer to get better and hold tight on her confidence. The book tells how support from loved ones can be a binding force during hours of difficulty.
“The Risk’s” story shows that sometimes it can be worth taking risks that seem hard and impossible. Jake and Brenna were there for each other through thick and thin. They united at the end, which was a true depiction of “what is meant to be will always be.” “The Play” had a beautiful storyline where Demi takes a stand for her career selection.

She pursued her dream of becoming a therapist rather than forcefully pushing herself into medical school. “The Dare” has a powerful message of not underestimating oneself, just like Taylor did. She has a negative self-perception that Conor will never look at her, but he likes her. Negative self-perception can shatter confidence, so why not think positively and feel positive about yourself?

I know the series has concluded, but some still want to read another book in the “Briar U” series. There’s no sequel announcement, but I might get one. Who knows!