March 11, 2021
Looking for a page-turner while you’re social distancing? Our Driftwood staff provides some of our favorite light reading picks to pass the time while cooped up at home.
Fiction:
The Off Campus Series
by Elle Kennedy
Garrett, Logan, Dean, and Tucker are teammates on Briar University’s championship-winning hockey team and, in the eyes of the female population, four of the hottest, most popular and sought-after guys on campus. Hannah, Grace, Allie, and Sabrina might be the only girls at Briar who refuse to fall for their devilish good looks, playboy reputations, and capitvating charms. After reading all that, you may be rolling your eyes and thinking these books couldn’t possibly get more cliché… and in some ways, you’re right. But in each book in this series, Elle Kennedy showcases her incredible talent of weaving together overused plot points and stereotypical character archetypes to ultimately craft beautiful, humorous, gut-wrenching, super steamy novels that always leave you wanting more. This series also addresses real-life problems like rape, physical abuse, alcoholism, degenerative disease, and unplanned pregnancy, which adds a whole new, inspiring element to what might otherwise be thought of as “typical” college romances. So, as each story progresses, readers—and the books’ central female figures—all come to see that there’s so much more to these sexy hockey players than they realized. Off-Campus is one of my all-time favorite series, so I can’t help but fall in love with these books and their endearing characters every time I read them!—Mallory Allen
When You Were Mine
by Rebecca Serle
When You Were Mine is a modern re-telling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but with a twist: it’s told by Rosalind, the girl who loved Romeo before Juliet showed up. In this novel, Rose and Rob have been best friends their entire lives. When Rob returns to town for the start of senior year, Rose decides to tell him about her feelings for him. But then, her mysterious cousin Juliet shows up, and with her comes drama of all sorts. Suddenly, Rob is obsessed with Juliet, and Rose begins to worry … because we all know how the play ends. The characters reminded mea lot of the ones from Mean Girls, so if you’re a fan of that film, you will like this book.
by Rebecca Serle
When You Were Mine is a modern re-telling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but with a twist: it’s told by Rosalind, the girl who loved Romeo before Juliet showed up. In this novel, Rose and Rob have been best friends their entire lives. When Rob returns to town for the start of senior year, Rose decides to tell him about her feelings for him. But then, her mysterious cousin Juliet shows up, and with her comes drama of all sorts. Suddenly, Rob is obsessed with Juliet, and Rose begins to worry … because we all know how the play ends. The characters reminded mea lot of the ones from Mean Girls, so if you’re a fan of that film, you will like this book.—Olivia Meyer, Books Editor