The Score (Off-Campus #3), by Elle Kennedy
Publish Date: January 11, 2016
Publisher: Self-published
Format: e-book, purchased
Genre: new adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Rating: 5 STARS
(Synopsis) 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.
In the first two Off-Campus books, Dean seemed kinda slimy. Now, after reading his story, I think he may just be the best one of all of them.
It's quite a turn around of opinions - Elle Kennedy did a masterful job of humanizing the manwhore of the group. She turned him into a person who you not only liked, but one you found yourself rooting for, cheering on, and crying with.
We've met Allie before too. She's Hannah's roommate and on-again, off-again girlfriend to her longtime boyfriend. In The Score, we see that they are now off-again, and Allie is determined that this time it'll stick. She's just not happy with him anymore. Kudos to her for realizing the difference between happiness and habit. She enlists the help of her friends, and by proxy their boyfriends and Dean, to keep her from running back to him.
Dean was never looking for a relationship. He was doing just fine banging a new girl every week, thankyouverymuch. But, Allie did something no other girl ever had. She turned him down. Repeatedly.
I love it when that happens. It seems to be a pattern with the boys in this entire series so far. Girls, take note. Boys will always notice a girl who speaks her mind and stands up for herself. They like girls who don't give it up to every popular guy on campus just to get ahead. And they prefer girls who have real goals that don't include doing every member of the hockey team.
Once we got into Dean's story, we realize there's so much more to this exhibitionist sex-fiend than meets the eye. He had some things happen in his past that he's not proud of, and those things are suddenly thrust in his face again. He's also forced to work outside of the privileged box in which he finds himself, which opens his mind to new career possibilities. Dean is also made to deal with some hard things, which is how he finds out who his real friends are and whether Allie is someone he can step up and change for.
The Score was surprisingly emotional. My heart was sad for both Allie and Dean at different parts of the book. This book also contained some of the trademark humor that we've seen in the previous two books in the series. That humor comes from the relationship of these four BFFs. Garrett, Logan, Dean and Tucker are such good friends - it's one of my favorite parts of each book. They yank each others' chains and joke around all the time. But, when one of them needs the others for support, they are there with no questions asked. Even if that means a serious come-to-Jesus talk.
The Goal will be the last book in the series, and we had a pretty jaw-dropping introduction to what Tucker's story will be about at the end of The Score. It's sure to finish things off with these four friends in a spectacular way.
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