Best Books Like Off Campus: Spicy College Sports Romance
If you’re obsessed with Off Campus on Prime Video, I’m here to guide you through The Best Books Like Off Campus: Spicy College Sports Romance from classic 2010s titles to the present!
Best Books Like Off Campus: Spicy College Sports Romances
Off Campus just dropped on Prime Video! If watching it sent you straight to your Kindle, you’re in the right place.
If you just watched Off Campus on Prime Video and immediately thought: “I need more of this,” I have good news: there is a lot more.
Back in the day, I read all the Briar University books. But now, those books can feel a bit dated (in terms of relationship dynamics) so what’s a 2020s book girlie supposed to read to get her Spicy Sports Romance fix?
Here is your complete guide to the best books like Off Campus.
Note: Most of these books are New Adult (NA) romance, meaning the characters are college-aged and the content can be explicit. Spice levels noted for each series!
Quick Picks: Spicy Sports Romance Books by Vibe
| If you’re in the mood for… | Pick up… |
|---|---|
| The OG: start here … if you’re ok with some dated gender dynamics | The Deal by Elle Kennedy |
| Enemies-to-lovers with a fun figure skater twist | Icebreaker by Hannah Grace |
| A sweeter, emotional slow burn on the ice | The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen |
| Chaotic, spicy, and absolutely unhinged in the best way | Playing for Keeps by Becka Mack |
| Issue driven hockey romance with a good amount of spice and angst | Unsteady by Peyton Corinne |
| Olympics romance, football romance, baseball romance! | Settling the Score by R.S. Grey, I Dare You by Ilsa Madden-Mills |
| Saving some money! | Check out my KU picks: Maple Hills, Playing for Keeps, Ivy Years, Waylon University, Orleans University, Red Zone |
The Elle Kennedy Briar University Universe
If you loved Off Campus on Prime Video, this is the source material. The two series are set in the same world, with overlapping characters. Think of it as the hockey romance version of Bridgerton (and yes, both adaptations include a much-needed refreshing of some outdated relationship dynamics…)
The Off Campus Series by Elle Kennedy (2015–2016)
The off campus Books in order:
The Deal · The Mistake · The Score · The Goal · The Legacy
Setting: Briar University, where the hockey players who are entirely too cocky for anyone’s good.
Each book in the Off Campus series follows a different Briar hockey player falling for someone he definitely shouldn’t be falling for. In The Deal, Hannah is a music major, while Garrett Graham is the star of the hockey team in danger of failing a class, and their tutoring arrangement is completely transactional. Uh huh.
You meet the hockey crew in book one, and then you get your own dedicated book with each of them. If you’ve seen the show, you’re already invested. Reading is the way to get more.
BUT I should warn you that many readers who have watched the show and then read the books have been shocked by the books’ dated attitudes toward gender relations, consent, and sex positivity.
- 🏒 Hockey players at Briar University
- 📖 Tropes: fake dating, friends to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, slow burn
- 🌶️ Spice level: High
- On Kindle Unlimited? No
The Briar U Series by Elle Kennedy (2018–2020)
The Briar U Books in order:
The Chase · The Risk · The Play · The Dare
Setting: Same Briar University, same hockey world, a new cast.
If you finished Off Campus and immediately wanted more of the Briar world, Elle Kennedy heard you. Briar U follows a fresh generation of Briar hockey players (and yes, familiar faces from Off Campus do show up….)
- 🏒 Hockey players at Briar University
- 📖 Tropes: roommates, brother’s best friend, forbidden romance
- 🌶️ Spice level: High
- On Kindle Unlimited? No
The BookTok Era of Spicy Sports Romance
These are the series that took the college sports romance genre and ran with it (see what I did there) for a new generation of readers in the 2020s.
Maple Hills series by Hannah Grace (2022-)
Maple Hills Series:
Icebreaker · Wildfire · Daydream
Setting: Maple Hills University — where the hockey team shares ice time with the figure skating team.
Icebreaker brought some much needed gender equity to the spicy sports romance subgenre. Figure skater Anastasia Allen and hockey captain Nathan Hawkins are forced to share ice time due to a scheduling conflict. Anastasia is a serious competitive athlete in her own right, not just a “puck bunny” as some of the Off Campus characters call their groupies ( I know….) .
The enemies-to-lovers slow burn is perfection. If you’re a Millennial or Gen X, you will FEEL the Cutting Edge vibes.
- 🏒 Hockey + figure skating at Maple Hills University
- 📖 Tropes: enemies to lovers, forced proximity (sharing the ice), slow burn
- 🌶️ Spice level: Very high
- On Kindle Unlimited? Yes!
Playing for Keeps series by Becka Mack (2022)
Playing for Keep Series in Order:
Consider Me · Play With Me · Unravel Me · Fall With Me · Breathe With Me
Setting: A professional hockey team, not a college series, but the energy is very much in the same family.
This one’s set in the professional hockey world rather than a college campus, but if you’re here for the spicy hockey romance, Playing for Keeps absolutely belongs on this list.
If you want maximum chaos with your spice, and you’ve exhausted the college-set options, this is your next stop.
- 🏒 Professional hockey (Vancouver Storm)
- 📖 Tropes: grumpy/sunshine, single mom, cocky athlete hero
- 🌶️ Spice level: Very high
- On Kindle Unlimited? Yes!
The Undone Series by Peyton Corinne (2024-2026)
The Undone Series in Order
Unsteady | Unloved | Unbound | Undone
Setting: Waterfell University: hockey players and figure skaters sharing a campus and a lot of angst.
Unsteady went viral on BookTok as an indie title and then Atria/Simon & Schuster picked the series up.
Peyton Corinne’s series is the one to reach for when you want your hockey romance to hit a little harder.
Where Icebreaker is spicy and fun, and Off Campus is hormonal and sometimes wildly dated, The Undone series asks more of you emotionally. The series carries heavier trigger warnings than most on this list, including PTSD, panic attacks, addiction, and difficult family dynamics.
- 🏒 Hockey + figure skating at Waterfell University
- 📖 Tropes: forced proximity, friendship to love, second chance at love, forbidden romance.
- 🌶️ Spice level: High
- On Kindle Unlimited? No
The Classics: Mid-2010s NA Sports Romance
A bit of a history lesson: in 2009, St Martin’s Press announced that they were looking to publish books with main characters in their twenties and coined the term “new adult.”
By the mid 2010s, these NA romance books (especially those set in college) became hugely popular. These books focus on the steamier side of college.
The Ivy Years by Sarina Bowen (2014–2019)
Ivy Years Books in Order:
The Year We Fell Down · The Year We Hid Away · The Understatement of the Year · The Shameless Hour · The Fifteenth Minute
Setting: Harkness College (supposedly based on Yale University).
Sarina Bowen’s Ivy Years are slightly less spicy and slightly more issue-driven. They deserve credit for representation/attitudes that was ahead of the norm in the 2010s: including gay hockey players and calling out slut shaming.
- 🏒 Hockey at Harkness (Ivy League)
- 📖 Tropes: forced proximity, second chance
- 🌶️ Spice level: Medium to High (varies by book)
- On Kindle Unlimited? Yes!
Want Even More Spicy Sports Romance?
Finished the hockey series and ready to branch out? These series cover football, baseball, and beyond — all with the same spicy college (or college-adjacent) romance energy.
Rusk University by Cora Carmack (2014–2015)
Rusk University Books in Order:
All Lined Up · All Broke Down · All Played Out
Three interconnected standalones set around the football team at Rusk University, Texas. This is classic NA from the same era as Off Campus, with great writing and a slightly lower spice level than the rest of this list. All Broke Down (book two) is the fan favorite: a football player with a complicated past, an activist heroine, forced proximity through community service. 🌶️ Medium spice. On Kindle Unlimited.
Waylon University by Ilsa Madden-Mills (2018–2020)
Waylon University Books in Order
I Dare You | I Bet You | I Hate You | I Promise You
Four football romances set at Waylon University in Texas. Madden-Mills writes heroes who are almost aggressively too much — cocky, hot, completely relentless — and then somehow makes you fall for them anyway. Great banter, solid tropes, all three on Kindle Unlimited. 🌶️ High spice.
Red Zone Rivals by Kandi Steiner (2022–ongoing)
Red Zone Rivals Books In Order
Fair Catch | Blind Side | Quarterback Sneak | Hail Mary | False Start | Illegal Formation
Six books (and counting) following the football players of North Boston University. Start with Fair Catch: a tight end who promised to stay away from his best friend’s sister, and a heroine who is absolutely not interested. If you want a long series to disappear into, this is it.
Note: later books in the series get heavier with some significant content warnings, so check those before diving in. 🌶️ High spice. All on Kindle Unlimited.
Summer Games by R.S. Grey (2016)
Summer Games Books in Order:
Settling the Score · Out of Bounds
A two-book duology set at the Olympic Games rather than a college campus, but the sports romance energy is all there. Settling the Score is pure fun — fast, breezy, and great for reading between longer series. 🌶️ Medium-high spice. On Kindle Unlimited.
Orleans University by Maren Moore (2023–2024)
Orleans University Books in Order
Homerun Proposal | Catching Feelings | Walkout Wedding | Rookie Mistake
Four interconnected standalones built around the college baseball team. Homerun Proposal (book one) kicks things off with a brother’s best friend setup and a fake engagement that predictably stops being fake. A lighter, fun read which is perfect to slot in between heavier series. 🌶️ High spice. On Kindle Unlimited.
Your Reading Order
If you’re just getting started and want a roadmap:
- Watch the Off Campus show (Prime Video) — or read The Deal first so you can participate in discussions about the casting
- Finish the Off Campus series (5 books) → then immediately go to Briar U (4 books)
- Icebreaker by Hannah Grace is the obvious next step
- Want to go deeper into the classics? The Ivy Years by Sarina Bowen is the move
- If you love The Ivy Years, read the Undone series and vice versa
- Need to conserve cash? Watch the show, read the Kindle Unlimited picks, and be perfectly happy.
- Want to branch out from hockey? Try the Red Zone Rivals series, the Rusk University series, the Summer Games series and The Orleans University series. Many area on Kindle Unlimited!
Happy reading — and if you have a series that should be on this list, tell me in the comments!
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My list of New Queer Romance Books for Summer 2026 also has some great sports romances!
