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katiekaiser's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Car accident, Cursing, Sexual content, and Grief
Moderate: Alcohol and Drug use
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Vomit
ttumbletree's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
All in all I loved the book: it made me giddy, made me full out laugh (at 2 am so thank you very much for that), it made me cry, it made me feel everything. (I never expected a book series about hockey players falling in love to make me cry, but here we are.)
I have to take away some points though, for the blatant heteronormativity, and the “I’m so masculine, I call people p***y” remarks that are sadly present in all the books in this series… (never liked that, never enjoyed that, cringe every time it happens, cannot effing stand it!) Oh and not to forget the over sexualization of wlw. It’s disgusting and harmful!
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Lesbophobia, Sexism, and Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia
agateg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
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.
I didn’t expect to fall so deeply for Dean and Allie, but it happened. I also didn't expect this to get so heavy so definitely check the trigger warnings! But overall I was shocked by how lovable I found Dean and his relationship with Allie.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Death, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, Cursing, and Car accident
kb33's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Cursing
Moderate: Drug use and Grief
Minor: Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Car accident, Death of parent, Cancer, Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Death
sinilukee's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing and Drug use
Minor: Pregnancy, Vomit, Death of parent, Death, Car accident, and Cancer
jj_readstoomuch's review against another edition
- 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
...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.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, and Sexual content
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Car accident
Minor: Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, and Vomit
ashley_1206's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
y’all let me just jump into this. my bbg allie? i love her. she is literally one of the strongest main characters you will ever meet. ngl i finished the book just because of her.
dean was literally my bae until like the last hmmmm 10%. i hold grudges so fresh out of the book sure i have a place in my heart for dean but i feel a bit hurt.
the side characters and i were attached at the hip. ALLIES DAD? THATS MY HOMIE BRO. i literally learned so much from that man it’s crazy. like he genuinely made me think and feel safe. i love that man. also in this book my respect for garrett just increased.
sean can jump off a cliff. like actually idc. if anyone deserves hate it’s this man.
but yeah 88% of this book is literally smutt but the characters are fun and enjoyable. i love dean and allie’s relationship <3
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Chronic illness, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Sexual content
lara_bk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, and Sexual content
Moderate: Car accident, Death, Vomit, and Chronic illness
Minor: Cancer
bookishgoob's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, and Alcohol
rachrreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Sexual content
Minor: Car accident and Vomit