The Score by Elle Kennedy

Posted March 3, 2018 by lenoreo in Reviews / 0 Comments

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The Score by Elle KennedyTitle: The Score
Author: Elle Kennedy
Series: Off-Campus #3
Published by: Indie
Release Date: January 11th 2016
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 361
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Sports Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 #LetsReadIndie Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Adult Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Winter Switch 2017/18
Find it: GoodreadsAmazonB&NKoboiBooksIndieBound
My rating: four-half-stars

Blurb:

He knows how to score, on and off the ice

Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn’t have the first clue about what she's going to do after college. To make matters worse, she’s nursing a broken heart thanks to the end of her longtime relationship. Wild rebound sex is definitely not the solution to her problems, but gorgeous hockey star Dean Di Laurentis is impossible to resist. Just once, though, because even if her future is uncertain, it sure as heck won’t include the king of one-night stands.

It’ll take more than flashy moves to win her over

Dean always gets what he wants. Girls, grades, girls, recognition, girls…he’s a ladies man, all right, and he’s yet to meet a woman who’s immune to his charms. Until Allie. For one night, the feisty blonde rocked his entire world—and now she wants to be friends? Nope. It’s not over until he says it’s over. Dean is in full-on pursuit, but when life-rocking changes strike, he starts to wonder if maybe it’s time to stop focusing on scoring…and shoot for love.

My Review:

4.5 stars — I read this one on vacation, and of course couldn’t get the review written right away, so this one is probably not going to be as coherent…that’s my fair warning.

I CAN’T BELIEVE I LOVED DEAD!!!  Honest to god folks, I wasn’t even looking forward to his story, I just couldn’t see myself falling for him.  But I did!!  There was more to him than I was expecting, and I honestly fell in love.  I appreciated his unapologetic views on sex and sexuality and how he talked to Allie about those things and tried to open her eyes.  I didn’t expect all of the stuff in Dean’s past with his high school girlfriend, but I can totally see how it shaped him.  I loved how down to earth he could be, even though he was rich.  I mean, it played a role in who he was, but not as big as I was expecting.  And man did he face his own struggles…while the circumstances broke my heart, I think he needed to face that adversity and hit rock bottom.  But yeah, he was just…all around so much more than I was expecting.  Seriously.

Allie was pretty kick ass in her own right, and you could really see her strength and resilience.  I loved that she wasn’t cowed by Dean.  He could have bowled her over with his strong personality, but she totally held her own.  And she faced her own demons along with him, but I loved how she came out of it even stronger, even though it was hard.  I was worried about Allie’s internal self-directed slut shaming, but in the end that resolved in a satisfying way for me.  And in the end I think it was a good addition to the story, b/c I think a lot of girls struggle with that balance within themselves, between being comfortable with their own sexuality vs what they experience from societal expectations.  So it was nice to see it being addressed.

The chemistry between Allie and Dean was off the charts.  I loved the natural way their relationship progressed, and I could see their feelings develop and change.  And OMG, they were hilarious with each other, I loved watching them banter with each other.

It was great to see glimpses of the rest of the cast of characters in this series, it didn’t overwhelm, but it was enough to satisfy.  I LOVED all the moments between Dean and the kids, they melted my heart.  And OMG, I wasn’t expecting the heartbreak in this story.  Totally caught me unawares and crying on the airplane.  Very affecting.

So yeah, who knew this was going to rival as my favourite in this series?  I’d have to read Logan’s book again to see which one is actually my favourite, but this one was solid!

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