Noa Schwartz

If you’re still at the cottage, maybe it’s time you travel to Briar University.

Crave’s “Heated Rivalry” sparked increased obsession and reverence for the niche that is hockey smut adaptations in late 2025, and a new Prime Video series has drawn comparisons for its content and the online craze it’s generated.

“Off Campus,” the TV adaptation of Elle Kennedy’s bestselling hockey romance series of the same name, has been available to stream for three weeks — enough time to read (or reread) the source material and watch the eight-episode season.

Now, it’s time to debrief how the show that accumulated 36 million viewers in its first 12 days interpreted its source material.

Season one of “Off Campus” is largely based on “The Deal,” the first book in Kennedy’s series, which follows Briar University hockey star Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli) and music major Hannah Wells (Ella Bright). When Garrett fails his ethics exam and his hockey future is jeopardized by his declining GPA, he convinces Hannah to tutor him in exchange for helping her get noticed by her crush, Justin Kohl (Josh Heuston). 

How? By entering into a fake relationship, of course.

“But when one unexpected kiss leads to the wildest sex of both their lives, it doesn’t take long for Garrett to realize that pretend isn’t going to cut it. Now he just has to convince Hannah that the man she wants looks a lot like him,” the synopsis reads.

With book-to-screen adaptations like “Off Campus,” it may seem impossible to make an entire fandom happy, following widely dissatisfied reception from booklovers of “Wuthering Heights” or “Red, White & Royal Blue,” to name a few. Emily Henry’s “Beach Read” adaptation has yet to be released, and fans are already enraged by its casting. 

Yet “Heated Rivalry” enjoyed record-breaking praise to the satisfaction of readers and studios alike.

“For the first time in my life, I finished an adaptation feeling completely satisfied instead of frustrated. Yes, the show (“Heated Rivalry”) changed some things, but the changes actually worked. Nothing felt random or disrespectful to the source material,” linqingzhu said on Reddit.

Can “Off Campus” say the same? No. 

“I watched the ‘Off Campus’ adaptation just today and ended up regretting it because of how much they changed major storylines. It made me wonder why it’s so hard for most romance adaptations to follow the source material,” linqingzhu said.

“Off Campus” in a vacuum has lots going for it: a strong ensemble cast with respective qualities that make them each uniquely capable of leading their own season; a soundtrack that balances the likes of Elton John and AC/DC, with up-and-coming voices such as Jensen McRae and The Beaches as well as original songs; and an approach to sensitive topics of rape and abuse in an accessible way for young audiences. It’s a solid, engaging watch.

Not in a vacuum, “Off Campus” betrays pivotal moments from “The Deal,” making it difficult for fans of the source material not to feel disappointed. 

Notably, in the book, Garrett’s father — legendary NHL player Phil Graham (Steve Howey), who is verbally and physically abusive — threatens to cut off Garrett financially, which would effectively end his hockey career as far as Hannah is concerned, should Hannah not break up with Garrett. So Hannah breaks up with Garrett, claiming things are moving too fast and she wants to explore other romantic options, while Garrett is (initially) convinced Hannah is scared of him after he attacked the hockey player who raped her.

In the show, Garrett breaks up with Hannah after the hockey altercation, convinced he’s “programmed” like his father and thus dangerous for her.

This change is one of many that fail to communicate how Phil’s abusive nature knows no bounds, threatening even those he’s unrelated to. It also unnecessarily negates Hannah’s autonomy and forces another big change: the erasure of the “campus-wide hands off” law.

In the book, Garrett leverages his prowess as the hockey captain to ban the men of Briar from approaching Hannah. Healthy or not, this was fandom-defining. And it didn’t make it in the show.

“If Hannah breaks up with Garrett, you can understand why he spreads that law because he doesn’t believe her, understandably. But if Garrett breaks up with Hannah, him spreading that hands-off law is problematic in a way that it wasn’t in the book,” showrunner Louisa Levy said to PEOPLE.

“For this version of Garrett, I think that would have felt a little out of character and specifically controlling,” Cameli said. “And control is, for me and for Louisa in the writers’ room, a big theme; it’s kind of the crux for Garrett … to bleed that control into Hannah’s life as an individual after the breakup felt wrong.”

To which fans responded: “We didn’t really want the show version of Garrett; we wanted the book version of Garrett.” 

If a character makes a “wrong” decision, it makes them real. Garrett’s brashness, jealousy and cockiness in “The Deal” humanize him while never breaching unrecoverable toxic territory or shadowing his unconditional love for Hannah.

“Off Campus” Garrett is too perfect for his own good, with the watering down of traits central to his original character and immediate debunking of rumors created by hockey underclassmen about a “hands off” law.

It’s unrealistic for fans to expect copy-and-pasting of page material to a screen; different media pose different affordances and audiences to cater to, as evidenced by the compiling of romantic storylines otherwise reserved for book sequels to maximize drama and irony. Minor characters were erased, iconic songs substituted and events like “Drunk Shakespeare” introduced, too.

But altering pivotal moments that are dear to fandoms — not to mention entirely altering personalities (hello, Tucker), making long-time best friends fervent enemies (Dean and Hunter) or inflating punishments that minimize power dynamics (one-game player suspension turned whole-season team record forfeit) — dismisses fan expectations that adaptors honor beloved source material.

Season one of “Off Campus” was a fun watch with relatively fresh, talented faces, a variety of great music and a regard for handling traumatic experiences with sensitivity. And yet, it was disappointing in various aspects, most notably in its deviation from crucial moments in “The Deal.”

Time will tell the extent to which season two remains true to “The Mistake” and “The Score,” or if Briar Universe fans will be inclined to accept the adaptation as a disaffiliated entity to be enjoyed at face value.