Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Score by Elle Kennedy

32 reviews

kat7794's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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alexismil's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really liked Allie & Dean! I thought they were a cute couple. They went through their hardships and that helped them become a better couple. I cried when you know who dies, it broke my heart. Just the fact that he was there when Dean & Allie kind of debut as a couple in front of their friends. I kind of loved that their love language was physical touch. Normally I’m not a type of person who enjoys it or enjoys reading it, but this was done right. Sometimes it can be down cringy but I thought it was cute and just showed how much they love each other. Also, they way that Dean didn’t even notice that he was touching Allie at some parts, made my heart swell! I feel like Dean was just waiting for someone to take him by surprise and Allie did that. Allie was waiting for someone who excites her and he did that for her. 

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megwicked's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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marpaige's review

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emotional funny slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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jayden_130607's review

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emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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jules_c's review against another edition

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emotional funny tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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zabeishumanish's review against another edition

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  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

A pretty normal college hockey romance. Everything about how Dean and Allie first get together though is pretty fantastic. Nothing about the end-of-book drama/third-act breakup felt overwhelming to me, but trigger warnings for grief and death of an important side character.

A groan lodges in my throat. My Friday night went from hot threesome sex to babysitting my best friend's girlfriend's best friend. (Dean's POV, 12)

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cassiereadsbooks_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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lifeonasofa's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“Well, kudos to your dad for making sure you could protect yourself. Followed by a f*ck you to your dad for turning you into a deadly weapon” - Elle Kennedy 🤛🏻 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5 Stars 

Another (not so) Bitchy Buddy Read 🎉

She’s back ladies and gentlemen! I was concerned after book 2, but the vibes are back! Surprisingly, Dean was almost as perfect as Garrett - I know, I did not expect it either. The play boy of the group, somehow so wholesome and healthy for our girl Allie. 👀

I loved that Allie was so relatable and the same lovely ray of sunshine from The Deal. We also got more Hannah and Garrett - yay! I loved how refreshingly honest Dean was, his layers slowly unraveling. Allie learnt to accept herself and her wants without feeling ashamed. 💋 

I’ve been so surprising and impressed with Kennedys ability to make her smutty romance books deep! She handles serious topics in such a lovely way, highlighting healthy relationships with partners, family and friends. So a quick heads up, check the trigger warnings for this one. 🥰 

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jj_readstoomuch's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

"He knows how to score, on and off the ice...
...It’ll take more than flashy moves to win her over."


Allie Hayes is nursing a broken heart but ends up on the rebound. She spends one night with Dean Di Laurentis, the king of one-night stands, and the rest is history. Just like the previous two books, The Score is pretty much the standard romance book. However, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the others.

The plot for this book was fairly predicable as it was so similar to her previous books in the series. A girl goes through a life changing event, she catches the eye of the bad boy hockey player, they try to resist each other and then boom, they fail. I know this is pretty much the basis for a lot of romance books out there (don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a good old good girl/bad boy trope) but the writing itself just seemed quite repetitive. At times I often felt like I was having deja vu because it just seemed like I'd read the exact same story before. However, the author has said that you can read these books as standalones. In my opinion, you wouldn't understand parts of book 3 without reading book 2 and you wouldn't understand parts of book 2 without reading the first book etc. so I'm glad I read them as a series.

The main characters in this book are Allie Hayes and Dean Di Laurentis. I personally just didn't gel with these characters as much as I did with the main characters from the previous books in the series.
Allie is ok. There are certain aspects of her personality that I find admirable, like her loyalty towards others. However, that also happens to be her downfall. She's loyal to a drastic fault and puts others' needs before her own. I did like Allie's character development. She became more certain about what she wanted and did things for her self, knowing that it would impact other characters, and didn't second-guess herself.
Dean. The only thing we really learn about Dean in the previous books is that he's a massive player, a humongous flirt and is very rich. In this book, you don't learn much more about Dean until maybe the last third of the book when a major event happens (no spoilers) and you see how he handles it and how his character develops because of it. I'm not a massive Dean fan despite how he's made out to such a popular person in the book. I found his personality to be quite garish and stereotypical. Yes, he has a character arc and grows as a person as we reach the end of the book but I don't know, his character just isn't for me.
As for other characters, we see more of Garratt and Hannah, Logan and Grace and more side characters from the previous books (which is why I would recommend reading the books as a series and in order). One character we didn't read a lot about in this book though is Tucker. He had the odd piece of dialogue and then dropped a major bombshell at the end of the book so I'm guessing book 4 is going to be about Tucker. We don't really know alot about this character besides that he's the 'mum' of the group and is a decent cook so I'm looking forward to reading more about him in the next book.

Ultimately, I thought this book was okay overall. A bit repetitive with the scenarios and writing but learning more about the different characters and how their lives have progressed at Briar University was very interesting. Overall, I'd probably rate this book 3.5 / 5 stars. It wasn't a bad book by any means but it didn't make me go all giddy and stay  hooked like the previous books. I would recommend reading this book if you don't mind a bit of repetitiveness or if you're going to read it as a standalone. I would also recommend this book (and the series as a whole) to adults (18+) as it contains explicit content and tackles some pretty heavy issues throughout. 


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