Elle Kennedy’s Off-Campus series consists of four interconnected romance novels set at Briar University, each following a different member of the university’s hockey team as he begins a romantic relationship. The Deal, The Mistake, The Score, and The Goal function as self-contained romances while sharing a recurring cast of characters. Friendships established in one novel continue throughout the series, allowing former protagonists to remain active participants in later stories. Together, the novels create a shared fictional world that allows characters and relationships to evolve across multiple books. The Legacy returns to these established characters several years after the events of the original novels, bringing together the four couples in a collection of interconnected novellas that concludes the Off-Campus series.

The series belongs to the new-adult category of contemporary romance, a genre that focuses on protagonists transitioning from adolescence to independent adulthood. Emerging as a publishing category in the late 2000s, new-adult fiction typically features protagonists between the ages of 18 and 25 who are beginning college, entering the workforce, or establishing independent lives. University settings are especially common because they place characters in an environment where they experience greater freedom while making important decisions about education, careers, relationships, and personal identity. New-adult fiction frequently explores themes such as financial independence, career uncertainty, sexuality, long-term relationships, and family responsibilities. Many new-adult novels also examine how romantic relationships evolve as characters assume greater personal and professional responsibilities.

The Off-Campus series belongs to the college-hockey romance subgenre within contemporary sports romance. Collegiate hockey shapes many of the subgenre's recurring themes, including teamwork, discipline, ambition, and balancing athletic commitments with academic and personal life. Because the players belong to the same team, the subgenre often features an ensemble cast whose friendships extend across multiple books. Team loyalty, locker-room camaraderie, and recurring appearances by former protagonists create continuity across the series. This interconnected structure allows later installments, including The Legacy, to revisit established characters and relationships without introducing an entirely new cast.

As the concluding installment in the Off-Campus series, The Legacy revisits the four established couples several years after the events of the original novels. Rather than introducing new protagonists, the collection follows characters whose relationships have already been developed across the series. Its focus on careers, marriage, and family reflects the new-adult genre’s continued interest in early adulthood beyond the university setting, while retaining the recurring friendships and shared community established at Briar University.