The Chase Book Summary: Elle Kennedy’s Fake-Dating Hockey Romance

Welcome, fellow bookworm! She’s Briar royalty with a ruined reputation. He’s the nerdy hockey player nobody sees coming. This summary of The Chase by Elle Kennedy covers the first book in the Briar U series — the fake-dating, slow-burn romance between Summer Di Laurentis, Dean’s younger sister, and Colin “Fitz” FitzSimmons, the hockey-playing video game designer. It’s charming, funny, and full of heart.

Summer Preston has been expelled from Brown and shipped off to Briar University, carrying a scandal she didn’t create and a reputation she can’t shake. Fitz is the opposite of the guys she’s always dated: a quiet, kind, game-designing hockey player who’s been invisible to her — until she needs a fake boyfriend and he’s the only one who’ll say yes. What starts as a PR arrangement becomes the most genuine connection either of them has ever had.

Fair warning: this The Chase summary contains full spoilers. Read on for the complete plot, characters, themes, quotes, and key lessons.

Book and Author Details

Author: Elle Kennedy is the bestselling Canadian author of the Off-Campus, Briar U, and Campus Diaries series — the defining voice of college hockey romance. Known for sharp banter, lovable ensembles, and heroes with hidden depths, Kennedy launched Briar U as the next-generation follow-up to Off-Campus. The Chase (2018) introduces a new cast at the same beloved university.

Publication: 2018, Elle Kennedy Inc., 400 pages. Briar U series order: The Chase, The Risk, The Play, The Dare.

Genre & Audience: Contemporary romance / New Adult / Sports romance. Best for readers 18+ who love fake dating, reputation-redemption arcs, nerdy heroes, and new-cast series starters.

Table of Contents

• One Minute Book Summary
• The Book in Three Sentences
• The Chase — Full Summary
• Characters
• 6 Main Key Lessons and Concepts
• Quotes
• Conclusion

ONE MINUTE BOOK SUMMARY

Summer Di Laurentis had it all at Brown — wealth, status, the perfect boyfriend — until a cheating scandal she didn’t cause got her expelled and branded. Now she’s at Briar University, Dean Heyward-Di Laurentis’s little sister, trying to rebuild her reputation from zero while everyone whispers about her past. Colin “Fitz” FitzSimmons is Briar hockey’s quiet secret weapon: a talented player who’s also a brilliant video game designer, nursing his own wounds from a past relationship that left him wary of women like Summer — beautiful, wealthy, and (he assumes) shallow. When Summer needs a respectable fake boyfriend to rehabilitate her image and Fitz needs… well, a reason to say yes, they strike a deal. But fake dating has a way of revealing real truths: Summer is far more than her reputation, Fitz is far more than his quiet exterior, and the people who judged them both were wrong about everything.

The Book In Three Sentences

Disgraced and expelled from Brown, Summer Di Laurentis arrives at Briar needing a fake boyfriend to rebuild her reputation — and quiet, game-designing hockey player Fitz Simmonds agrees to play the part. Their arrangement forces both to confront the gap between reputation and reality: she’s not the scandal, he’s not invisible. What was supposed to be PR becomes the truest thing either of them has ever felt.

The Chase Book Summary

Part 1: The Fall and the Fresh Start

Summer Di Laurentis’s life imploded in a single semester. At Brown, she was living the dream — elite social circle, perfect boyfriend — until she discovered his cheating and the fallout somehow landed on her. Expelled in the scandal’s wake (the injustice of it burns), she’s exiled to Briar University, where her older brother Dean is hockey royalty. Summer’s plan: keep her head down, rehabilitate her reputation, and prove she’s more than the worst thing that ever happened to her.

Colin FitzSimmons — Fitz to everyone — is easy to overlook, and he prefers it that way. A solid Briar hockey defenseman and a genuinely talented video game designer, Fitz was burned badly by an ex-girlfriend who fit Summer’s exact profile: beautiful, rich, and ultimately careless with his heart. He’s sworn off her type entirely. So when Summer — his brother’s friend’s little sister, everything he distrusts — proposes a fake-dating arrangement to fix her image, his first instinct is refusal. His second instinct, unfortunately for his peace of mind, is curiosity.

Part 2: The Arrangement

The fake-dating plot unfolds with Kennedy’s signature charm. Fitz agrees — reluctantly, with ground rules — and Summer sets about the work of reputation rehabilitation: charity events, study groups, public appearances with her steady, respectable “boyfriend.” Fitz, playing the part, discovers that the real Summer is nothing like her reputation: she’s funny, loyal, hardworking, and genuinely kind — a young woman punished for someone else’s sins.

Summer, in turn, discovers Fitz’s hidden world: his game design, a passion he pursues with the same dedication he gives hockey; his quiet loyalty to his friends; his dry, unexpected humor. The “dates” — initially strategic — become the highlight of both their weeks. Fitz’s friends (including Brenna Jensen, the coach’s daughter) become Summer’s first real allies at Briar, and Summer’s warmth thaws Fitz’s carefully maintained frost.

The complication: Fitz’s ex casts a long shadow. Every time Summer does something that echoes his past hurt, Fitz pulls back — and Summer, who’s spent months being judged for things she didn’t do, has no patience for being punished for someone else’s sins twice.

Part 3: Reputation vs. Reality

The third-act crisis hits both fronts. Summer’s past resurfaces — the Brown scandal, weaponized by someone with an agenda — threatening the reputation she’s painstakingly rebuilt. Simultaneously, Fitz’s trust issues detonate: faced with a situation that mirrors his past betrayal, he assumes the worst about Summer instead of asking for the truth. It’s his lowest moment, and Kennedy doesn’t let him off easy.

Summer’s response is the novel’s finest beat: she refuses to beg for belief. She’s done proving herself to people committed to misunderstanding her. She walks away — not in a huff, but with the quiet dignity of someone who’s learned her worth. It’s Fitz who must do the chasing (the title earns its double meaning): investigating, apologizing, and proving through action that he’s learned to see her clearly.

Part 4: Seen Clearly

Fitz’s grovel is thorough and sincere: public defense of Summer against the rumor mill, confrontation with his own baggage, and the vulnerable admission that his fear — not her behavior — was the problem. Summer, whose growth has been about refusing to shrink, accepts his apology on her terms: trust, but verify, and never again at the cost of her dignity.

The resolution gives both their wins: Summer’s reputation restored on the strength of her character, Fitz’s game design ambitions taking shape alongside his hockey career. They’re a couple built on clear sight — each truly seen by the other — which makes them one of the series’ most stable-feeling pairs. The epilogue sets up the Briar U ensemble that will carry the next three books.

Characters

1. Summer Di Laurentis — Dean’s younger sister; disgraced at Brown, rebuilding at Briar with wit and resilience.
2. Colin “Fitz” FitzSimmons — Briar hockey player and game designer; quiet, loyal, and healing from past betrayal.
3. Dean Heyward-Di Laurentis — Summer’s overprotective older brother; hero of The Score.
4. Brenna Jensen — The coach’s daughter; Summer’s first real friend at Briar, heroine of The Risk.
5. Demi Davis — Friend; heroine of The Play.
6. Hunter Davenport — Teammate; hero of The Play.
7. Allie Hayes Di Laurentis — Dean’s wife; warm and welcoming to Summer.
8. Fitz’s ex-girlfriend — The past betrayal shaping his trust issues.
9. Summer’s Brown ex — The cheater whose actions launched her exile.
10. The Briar U ensemble — The new generation finding its footing.

6 Main Key Lessons and Concepts

1. Core Message: You are not your worst rumor. Summer’s entire arc is about refusing to let other people’s narratives define her. The novel argues that reputation is a story others tell about you — character is the story you live, and the latter always wins eventually.

2. Purpose: Kennedy launched Briar U with a mission: prove the universe could thrive with a new cast. The Chase‘s purpose is bridge-building — honoring the Off-Campus legacy (Dean’s cameos, the Briar setting) while establishing fresh voices and new dynamics that stand on their own.

3. Audience: New adult readers (18+) — an ideal entry point to the Briar universe for those who haven’t read Off-Campus. Especially resonant for anyone who’s ever been misjudged or had to rebuild after a fall.

4. Foundational Insight: Trust issues punish the wrong people. Fitz’s arc demonstrates how past betrayal becomes present injustice when we make new people pay for old wounds. The insight: healing means learning to judge people as individuals, not as representatives of your past.

5. Supporting Ideas: Fake dating reveals real character; “nerdy” and “athletic” aren’t opposites; women punished for men’s misbehavior is an injustice worth naming; dignity sometimes means walking away; the best apologies are backed by changed perception, not just changed behavior.

6. Practical Implications: For anyone rebuilding after scandal or misjudgment: Summer’s playbook — head down, character up, refuse to internalize others’ narratives — is genuinely wise. For anyone carrying trust issues: Fitz’s journey shows that protecting yourself by suspecting everyone costs you the very people worth trusting. For writers: study how Kennedy makes a series-starter feel complete while planting seeds — every supporting character is a future protagonist in waiting.

Quotes

“I’m not the girl from those rumors. But I’m done explaining that to people who’ve already decided.”

— Summer’s declaration of independence from her reputation.

“You keep waiting for me to be her. I’m not her, Fitz. I’m me, and I’m right here.”

— Summer confronting Fitz’s projection. The line that breaks his pattern.

“She’s not invisible anymore. She never was — I just wasn’t looking.”

— Fitz’s realization. The quiet hero, finally seen and seeing.

“Fake boyfriend, real feelings. Worst deal I’ve ever made. Best mistake I’ve ever made.”

— Fitz’s wry summary. The arrangement’s epitaph.

“They spent so long telling my story that I forgot I get to write the ending.”

— Summer’s closing reflection. Authorship reclaimed.

Conclusion

The Chase is a first book that knows exactly what it’s doing. Elle Kennedy introduces a new Briar generation without abandoning what made Off-Campus beloved — the banter, the brotherhood, the big-hearted romance — while giving Summer and Fitz a story entirely their own. It’s lighter than some series entries but no less emotionally intelligent, tackling reputation, trust, and redemption with a deft touch.

Summer Di Laurentis is a wonderful heroine: wronged but not broken, funny without being flippant, and dignified in ways that make her easy to root for. Fitz is the rare “quiet” hero who never feels blank — his game design passion, his loyalty, and his dry humor make him quietly magnetic. Together, they prove that the best romances aren’t about fireworks but about clear sight: truly seeing another person, and letting yourself be seen.

If this The Chase summary gets you to read one thing, let it be the book itself — then continue through Briar U. Summer and Fitz’s story is the doorway to Brenna and Jake, Demi and Hunter, Taylor and Conor. The chase, it turns out, was worth it. And so is the whole series.