Elle Kennedy is best known for her Off Campus series, which all started with The Deal, a self-published novel from 2015. But I first found her with Midnight Rescue, a romantic suspense novel from 2012. Since then, I’ve read pretty much everything she’s written, with my personal favourite being The Score, book 3 in the Off Campus series.
Elle and I first connected when I used to make cake-decorating content on TikTok. More recently, I got to visit the Off Campus set to meet the entire cast and crew. And just a few weeks ago, she popped into my podcast studio for an exclusive 1:1 interview.
Here’s what she revealed about Off Campus:
Why was The Deal self-published?
While the series is immensely popular today, the book almost wasn’t published. Elle Kennedy started writing the hockey romance book as a fun side project in between her other books. She knew she wanted to write college-age characters who still had the bromance of her previous books. Then came hockey, which stemmed from her Canadian roots, followed by crafting Garrett Graham. Hannah was crafted after him as “the girl who wants nothing to do with him.”
I wanted someone who challenges him, someone who’s not impressed by him, doesn’t care about hockey. Someone who’s obviously outspoken and isn’t gonna just cater to his ego and tell him how great he is. But I also wanted someone who’s soft and able to be vulnerable because he is unable to be. — Elle Kennedy, Off The Shelf
At the time, one of Kennedy’s friends was beta reading for her and had asked if she had anything to read. After reading the book in full, her friend convinced her to self-publish the book.
At the time, Elle Kennedy was traditionally published and writing romantic suspense. The Deal fell under the new adult genre, which was quite new at the time. She expressed that you couldn’t sell new adult books with sex scenes to adult publishers because the characters are 19. On the flip side, YA books can have 19-year-old characters but not explicit physical intimacy scenes. It was stuck in this middle ground place where most new adult authors were not traditionally publishing.
And the path to self-publishing is not easy because you don’t have a team behind you. When self-publishing, the author is responsible for everything from the cover art to finding an editor to marketing the book. Kennedy revealed that she was willing to take on that job with The Deal because it wasn’t necessarily aligned with her brand of romantic suspense at the time.
So at the time, The Deal was just going to be The Deal. Elle Kennedy revealed in the interview that she never writes a book hoping or planning a series. She writes one book and the series only continues if her editor, a beta reader, or herself falls in love with a side character. Kennedy’s editor at the time loved Logan, and that’s how The Mistake was born, followed by The Score.
It was supposed to be a trilogy.
Dean and Tucker’s original storylines…
In the early versions of Off Campus, Dean and Tucker had very different fates.
The fourth book in the series, The Goal, was never supposed to be a book. Elle Kennedy revealed that Tucker was was supposed to be the character you fell in love with and then grieved for. She knew Dean had to lose someone close to him because “his life is so perfect.” Dean needed someone to destroy his life, and Tucker was originally going to be that person until he became too likable to the readers. So someone else had to wreck Dean.
Dean, on the other hand, wasn’t originally going to end up with Allie. In The Mistake (book 2), Dean meets Sabrina, and the two have a very charged, angry encounter that was meant to set up their storyline in book 3. Kennedy reveals that enemies-to-lovers was always the plan for Dean until she actually started writing…
I believe I wrote the first 10 pages and I hated them [Dean and Sabrina] together. They were so toxic and I think there’s a difference between enemies to lovers like light enemy banter and people who genuinely just didn’t like each other and it would have taken a lot to make me like get them to a place where they could be together and my gut the whole time said that this is not this is not right. — Elle Kennedy, Off The Shelf
Kennedy then pivoted to Allie as his love interest, which angered quite a few readers when she announced it in her newsletter. Personally, I couldn’t imagine anyone else with Dean than Allie, but that’s me! While there was no set-up with the characters in previous books, they have become one of the best couples in the Briar Universe according to Kennedy.
Sabrina then became Tucker's love interest in The Goal instead.
What was it like to visit the Off Campus set?
Elle Kennedy got to visit the set for three days last year during production and describes it as:
The most surreal experience because like I created this world and I created these characters and now they’re standing in front of me and like, you know, I’m I’m hugging Tucker, or Jalen, you know what I mean? — Elle Kennedy, Off The Shelf
Kennedy describes the Malones’ set as one of her favourites. After also visiting the set last summer, I can confirm that it’s pretty epic. She also notes that for logistical reasons, they combined the sports bar and the diner. The small details such as the Texas flag on Tucker’s door or the Dean's Office sign on Dean’s were also incredible to see in her eyes.
Another impactful moment during her set visit came down to the scenes that they were filming on those days. Two of those scenes were the karaoke scene with Ella Bright (who plays Hannah) and Jalen Thomas Brooks (Tucker). Ella’s version of Cherry Pie will forever remain in my brain from watching the show, so I can only imagine getting to hear it live…
And instead of having an on-screen cameo, Off Campus gave Elle Kennedy a bit of a different cameo. In Hannah’s dorm room, on her bookshelf is a copy of Girl Abroad, a standalone novel outside the Briar U universe. When asked about being on screen, Kennedy shared that she doesn’t like cameras.
I’m so painfully awkward and even just if you tell me to walk, I’m going to ruin that somehow. Like I’ll like trip and fall and I won’t do it properly. So that was my cameo. — Elle Kennedy, Off The Shelf
She can’t reveal anything about season two other than her excitement and how much India Fowler looks exactly like the Grace she pictured.
Off Campus Superlatives with Elle Kennedy
Your therapist is out sick for the day. Who would you want to take over? Hannah or Grace.
Who would win Survivor? Tucker
Who would make the worst roommate? Dean
You’re stranded on an island. Who are you taking with you? Tucker would keep me alive, but as company I would probably want Hannah or Jake (from Briar U)
If your car broke down at 2 a.m., who would actually come help? Logan
Who would be the most fun to go on vacation with? Garrett
Who are you most like? A combination of all the girls <3
Watch the full interview below:
ICYMI
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