Brooklyn Bruisers
romance
Series · romance
The Ivy Years
The Ivy Years series by Sarina Bowen has 6 books and is best read in publication order, starting with The Year We Fell Down (2014).
- Books
- 6 books
- First published
- 2014
- Status
- completed
- Last checked
Start here: The Year We Fell Down (2014) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
The Year We Fell Down
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Year We Fell Down - Book 2:
The Year We Hid Away
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Year We Hid Away - Book 3:
The Understatement of the Year
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Understatement of the Year - Book 4:
The Shameless Hour
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Shameless Hour - Book 5:
The Fifteenth Minute
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Fifteenth Minute - Book 6:
Extra Credit
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Extra Credit
About The Ivy Years
The Ivy Years is Sarina Bowen's original New Adult series, set among students, athletes and misfits at a fictional Ivy League school. The Year We Fell Down opens the series with a quietly emotional romance between a hockey player and the wheelchair-using former figure skater across the hall from him after a career-ending injury — a book widely credited with helping define the disability-representation-forward side of the New Adult genre when it was at its peak. Each following book hands the story to a different student on the same campus: a closeted athlete's coming-out arc in The Understatement of the Year, a recovering party girl finding her footing in The Shameless Hour, and a shy freshman navigating first love and family pressure in The Fifteenth Minute.
Bowen writes with a gentler, more literary touch than a lot of college romance — real consequences, real vulnerability, and characters who feel like actual twenty-year-olds rather than romance-genre types. The series became the direct predecessor to her wildly popular hockey-romance work (Brooklyn Bruisers and beyond): several Ivy Years side characters, including hockey player Adam Hartley, get their own books in the later Brooklyn series. Extra Credit, a collection of three novellas, catches up with the extended Ivy Years cast.
How to read this series
Read the five novels in publication order — The Year We Fell Down, The Year We Hid Away, The Understatement of the Year, The Shameless Hour, The Fifteenth Minute — each following a different student on the same campus, with earlier couples appearing in supporting roles as the series goes on. Extra Credit, a collection of three linked novellas (Blonde Date, Study Period, Yesterday), was published after the main five and works best read last, as a coda for readers who want more time with the cast. If you go on to enjoy hockey player Adam Hartley here, he gets his own book, Rookie Move, as the start of Bowen's separate Brooklyn Bruisers series — a satisfying next step but not required.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in The Ivy Years series?
Six: five full-length novels (The Year We Fell Down, The Year We Hid Away, The Understatement of the Year, The Shameless Hour, The Fifteenth Minute) plus Extra Credit, a collection of three novellas.
What order should I read The Ivy Years books in?
Publication order for the five novels, with Extra Credit read last since it's a novella collection catching up the extended cast after the main series ends.
Do I need to read The Ivy Years before Brooklyn Bruisers?
No, but it helps: hockey player Adam Hartley is introduced here as a side character before headlining Rookie Move, the first Brooklyn Bruisers book. Each series stands on its own.
Is The Year We Fell Down a standalone or does the series need to be read in order?
Each Ivy Years book is a complete, standalone romance with a new lead couple. Reading in order isn't required, but it lets you watch the same friend group grow across all five books.
Is The Ivy Years series finished?
Yes. The five-novel series plus the Extra Credit novella collection is complete; Bowen has continued the wider world through her separate Brooklyn Bruisers/Brooklyn Hockey books.
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Reading order last verified .