Why You'll Love This
Dean Di Laurentis has never had to work for anything — until the one woman who refuses to be a one-night stand.
- Great if you want: a cocky-hero-meets-his-match romance with genuine emotional stakes
- The experience: fast, fun, and compulsively readable — perfect for a weekend binge
- The writing: Kennedy's banter crackles; she makes unlikeable characters impossible to put down
- Skip if: you're tired of the reformed player trope — it's front and center here
About This Book
Dean Di Laurentis has never had to work for anything—especially not a woman's attention. But when a single reckless night with Allie Hayes turns into something neither of them planned for, Dean finds himself wanting more than she's willing to give. Allie is already drowning in uncertainty about her future and isn't about to add a notoriously commitment-phobic hockey player to the wreckage. The real tension here isn't whether these two will end up together—it's watching a man who's never been serious about anything slowly realize he's capable of being exactly that.
What sets The Score apart from similar campus romances is Kennedy's sharp, unsentimental prose and her genuine investment in her male lead. Dean could easily be a flat charmer, but Kennedy builds him with surprising interiority and a dry wit that makes his chapters as compelling as Allie's. The banter crackles, the emotional beats land with real weight, and the story moves at a pace that makes 384 pages feel effortless. Readers who've followed the Off-Campus series will find this entry the most emotionally satisfying yet—but it stands cleanly on its own.
