The way Hannah participates in the singing competition for her scholarship unfolds a bit differently in the books, with a few more characters providing obstacles to her process. Cass, the vocalist she is paired with in the book, is not in the show, and neither is Mary Jane, the songwriter whose composition Hannah and Cass are set to perform. Cass is, in a way, rolled into Justin Kohl, Josh Heuston’s character, who is a songwriter and lead singer of a band.

In The Deal, Justin Kohl is a football player who Hannah has eyes for. Thus, the competition for her is between athletes. The show makes Justin more of a foil to Garrett as a singer songwriter. He also has a fraternity connection to Beauh Maxwell (Khobe Clark) in the show. In some ways, Justin has elements of Cass Donovan, the annoying singer Hannah is paired with for her competition in the books, because Garrett misnames Justin on purpose. Hannah also had an ex in the books, Devon, who was musically inclined.

In Elle Kennedy’s first book, Hannah has two separate jobs, one at Della’s Café and one at Malone’s, the bar. In the show, those two venues have been combined in the show with Della running Malone’s both morning and night.

Logan’s non-binary sibling is completely new to the show, a creation of showrunner Louisa Levy’s. They run Fifth Line, the Briar U hockey gossip account, which also does not play a role in Kennedy’s The Deal. In The Mistake, Logan only has a brother, so he is not a middle child, as Antonio Cipriano stressed when talking to Deadline about connecting to that aspect of his character.

In the second episode, when Garrett tells Hannah that she blushes every time he’s near her, Logan (Antonio Cipriano) happens to walk in on them making out in the training room after Hannah tells their coach she is Garrett’s tutor. To try and prove a point to Garrett, Hannah walks up to Logan and kisses him right after this. In the book, she kisses Dean (Stephen Kalyn), but the Logan change makes some sense with his plotline of pining for Garrett’s girlfriend.

In the book, Hannah’s roommate Allie Hayes (Mika Abdalla) already knows that she was raped in high school after being drugged at a party. In the show, Hannah makes it seem like a friend of hers was roofied in high school, and a touching scene between the best friends and roommates reveals that Allie had a hunch the whole time that it was Hannah.

In The Deal, Dean and Beau celebrate their birthdays separately. The combo party in the show provides some great moments from needle drop insertion as nods to the books and a scene that first hints at Dean and Allie’s romance which takes place in Elle Kennedy’s book The Score. The costume party also foreshadows several events from the books if you look at certain costumes.

In The Mistake, it’s Logan’s dad who is in rehab, not his mom. The mom change becomes apparent in the Thanksgiving episode of the show, “The Cold Turkey” when Jules wants to visit their mom on the holiday and bring food.

In The Deal, Hannah breaks up with Garrett because his father Phil Graham — portrayed by Steve Howey in the show — blackmails her into doing so. He thinks Hannah isn’t good for Garrett’s hockey career, a distraction, so he tells her to break up with his son. This is where the campus-wide hands off law comes in as well, which has an iteration in the show. Garrett navigates Phil’s threat by getting access to a trust that he can use to pay for his remaining time at Briar.

A surprise character enters the end of Season 1 of Off Campus, played by Charlie Evans (Paradise). For those who have not watched yet, this entry will remain spoiler free.