In the early 2020s, the social media platform TikTok revolutionized the publishing industry through its book-focused community, known as BookTok. The platform’s algorithm amplified short, engaging videos from readers, turning years-old books into sudden bestsellers and creating viral microgenres, including college hockey romance—novels that center romantic relationships with college hockey players.

Elle Kennedy’s Off-Campus series, originally published starting in 2015, became a cornerstone of this trend. Books like The Goal saw a massive resurgence in popularity as readers celebrated tropes such as enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, and the jock with a heart of gold. The viral popularity driven by BookTok propelled Kennedy and similar authors, such as Rachel Reid and Becka Mack, to immense commercial success and renewed attention from publishers and producers. For example, British author Hannah Grace’s self-published hockey romance Icebreaker became a New York Times bestseller after going viral on BookTok, leading to a major publishing deal.

The college hockey romance trend’s influence extended beyond book sales, leading to television adaptations, including HBO’s widely popular series, Heated Rivalry, based on Reid’s Game Changers series, and a Prime Video series based on Kennedy’s Off-Campus novels. The BookTok phenomenon not only explains the series’ mainstream success years after its initial release but also highlights how its character archetypes and romantic plotlines perfectly aligned with the tastes of a massive online community, making it a key example of virally driven literary culture.

Kennedy’s first Off-Campus novel, The Deal, centers on the fake dating romance trope, as music major, Hannah Wells, agrees to tutor a star hockey player if he pretends to be her boyfriend and helps her win her crush’s heart. As Garrett and Hannah grow closer and open up to each other about traumatic experiences in their pasts, they discover they have real feelings for each other. The Deal also introduces Garrett’s teammates, John Logan, Dean Di Laurentis, and John Tucker, each of whom take their turn as the romantic lead of a subsequent novel in the series.

In The Mistake, a casual hookup between hockey defenseman, Logan, and college freshman Grace Ivers, serves as a good distraction for Logan, who’s trying to get over his crush on his best friend’s girlfriend, Hannah. When Grace and Logan start to develop a genuine emotional connection, Logan confesses he’s been using her to get over someone else and ends the relationship before it can really begin. After a heart-to-heart with Hannah, Logan realizes that his crush on her was actually a desire for a loving relationship like the one between Garrett and Hannah. His epiphany sends Logan on a quest to win Grace back, foregrounding the second-chance romance trope.

In The Score, Hannah’s roommate and best friend, Allie, begins secretly sleeping with Garrett’s roommate Dean in the wake of her breakup with her long-term boyfriend. Their clandestine, sexual encounters lead to real feelings that come to light when Allie has an upsetting confrontation with her ex, and Dean is the only one she wants to comfort her. The two declare their love for each other and successfully transition from friends to lovers.

Like the previous novels in the series, The Goal embodies the core tenets of the new adult genre, which centers the transitional period of early adulthood. Protagonists Sabrina and Tucker are college seniors on the cusp of graduation. Sabrina’s ambition to attend Harvard Law School is contrasted with her precarious financial situation, forcing her to work two jobs to support herself and escape her dysfunctional home life. The novel candidly depicts their sexual relationship and the emotional complexities that arise from an unplanned pregnancy, themes considered too mature for young adult (YA) but central to the new adult (NA) experience.