He’s used to winning, but now he’s playing with his heart.Jude Braddock. Hockey god. That’s how everyone sees him now. But when they were teenagers, Zoey knew him as the kid who didn’t have enough nerve to make a move on their one and only disastrous date. Seems he doesn’t have that problem anymore, though. According to the rumors, he’s with a different woman every night. After a rough divorce, … After a rough divorce, the last thing Zoey needs is more heartbreak. But Jude’s cocky, playful attitude is mighty hard to resist.
Jude knows he isn’t built for long-term relationships. But he’s getting sick of women pounding on his door in the middle of the night looking for a rematch. When Zoey comes back into his life, it’s like fate has given him a second chance. He’ll do anything to make her happy again. Is this what love looks like? He has no idea. All he knows for sure is that this time, he’s playing for keeps.
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3.5
Everything around Jude seemed to be ostentatious, but his real personality just didn’t fit that image to me. His true person melded with Zoey so much better. Her free spirit take-no-trash attitude made me love her, though there were moments of defeat just like in reality that made her all the more relatable.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, but there just seemed to be a lot of predictability and drawn outness.
Second Chance, Hockey, reformed playboy
I had a little back and forth with myself with how to rate Score. On one hand, it’s well written, sexy and the characters are interesting and fully drawn, so I wanted to give it a 5 star review. On the other hand, Jude is a serious douche in the beginning, no actually, through most of the story, and he was so back and forth with his emotions that I wanted to junk punch his ass on more than one occasion, so I was thinking 4 stars. In the end, I just never quite connected with Jude, so I went with 4 stars.
Jude Braddock is a professional hockey player with the San Francisco Thunder. He’s a 28 year old player, on and off the ice. He’s slept with countless women, and rarely goes back for more with the same woman. He’s so loose with his favors that he has women showing up to his condo in the middle of the night begging for more, and he has to turn them down every single time. He even has a dick pic floating around online because he was stupid enough to get drunk and sleep with a woman and let her keep her phone with them while they did the deed. His sister, Dixie, who is a PR intern with his team, has done everything she can think of to get Jude’s reputation cleaned up but so far nothing’s working because Jude refuses to act like a mature adult. Nothing works until he sees the girl who got away, Zoe Quinlin, again and it’s as if he’s been transported 10 years back and he’s panting all over one woman again.
Zoey has had her heart broken by her soon to be ex husband, so her defenses are up. She’s in a new career in the residential realty game, when she runs into one of the girls she used to babysit in Maine, Dixie, Jude’s sister, and she’s transported back 10 years when life was easier and her heart hadn’t been broken. As she reunites with Dixie and her two sisters, she’s remembering Jude, and then boom, there he is, about to invade their girl time and her heart is suddenly lighter. As the two fall back into each other, both are remembering their teen years when they had been so in lust with each other, but were never able to consummate that lust (alcohol strikes again!) so they have 10 years of pent up lust to extinguish.
Even while embarking upon an undefined relationship, Jude’s questioning his feelings and still thinking he’s not good enough for Zoey. He’s got a lot of issues to deal with and those issues have caused him make some ridiculous decisions. He’s been unable to sustain a committed relationship in the past, and he wonders if he’ll be able to with Zoey. Zoey’s heart is still fragile, thanks to her asshole of an ex, but Jude makes her heart feel as if it just might be healing. It’s always a favorite trope of mine when the player meets the one woman for him who makes him give up his heartless ways, and Victoria does this trope really well here. I just wish Jude hadn’t been such a douche for most of the story. Thank God Victoria is able to make Jude redeem himself, though, and in a sweet way.
I’m looking forward to Dixie’s story next, she’s an interesting girl, and a pairing her with Eli (the brother of Levi, Jude’s one time best friend and his current teammate) will make for lots of sparks flying!
I enjoyed this more than I thought I was going to. I’ve never read this author before. Honestly, I bought it cause it’s the infamous book that actor and comedian Paul Scheer read after tweeting about the cover of another one of her books while making fun of it. He then did the honorable thing after being called out for his ignorance and live tweeted while he read the book. The eBook of Score went on sale for 1.99 and I had to see what all the fuss was about!
Hockey themed romance is slowly but surely becoming a new favorite sub-genre of mine! I don’t even know what it is. I just love it.
So Jude and Zoey knew each other as teens and had an almost fling that ended poorly because of too much alcohol. Then didn’t see each other for 10 years. Jude became a super playboy, sleeping with tons of women. Zoey got married and is in the process of a divorce at the beginning of the book.
I didn’t like Jude much because of his playboy ways. Thankfully, the author didn’t write him having any current sidechicks or flings. I would have super hated that! He’s had a dick pic scandal and been trying to lay low so he doesn’t get in more trouble with his team managers. I did not like how insistent he was that commitment wasn’t in him. He tried to have a series relationship but cheated on his gf and then she started dating his teammate and best friend. For the first half of the book, while he’s totally into Zoey, and it obvious he likes her for more than just sex, he won’t acknowledge that it’s more than that. It was a bit annoying. BUT, once he did acknowledge that he has no desire to sleep with anyone but Zoey, be with anyone but Zoey, he embraces those feelings and openly says they’re dating and that she is his girlfriend.
I LOVED Zoey. She was a great heroine. Yes she has moments of weakness, as we all do, but then she goes and stands up for herself! She doesn’t take crap from her ex husband. And when Jude messes up, she doesn’t take crap from him either. I was so happy to see her wait to sleep with Jude until after her divorce was final! Even though they’d been separated for months, she was the kind of person who honored her commitment even though her ex hadn’t. It was great. And I loved how even though she was scared of her strong feelings, it didn’t stop her from talking about them and telling Jude how she felt. I loved that.
And WOWEE the sex was HOT! I lost track of how many scenes there were. I usually try to count them so I can say how many there are for other readers to be aware of, but there were so many I gave up. I want to say at least six. And they were all different and unique experiences (I hate it when there are multiple scenes but they’re all done in the same positions). The love scenes are detailed and borderline the kind of scenes you’d find in erotica! It was hot but the emotion was still there too. It was great.
So 4 out of 5 stars in my opinion. There are other books I’ve enjoyed more, but this one was still really good. I will definitely read the next book and the rest of the series as it comes out!
Jude Braddock is well known for his skills on the ice and off, and while he’s pretty proud of his off ice achievements, he isn’t too thrilled with his previous opponents banging on his front door wanting a round two. He’s not a man built for commitments, and is quite vocal about that fact, making sure each puck bunny he takes home knows the drill, but for some reason they seem to keep forgetting that important little detail. There has only ever been one woman to peak his interest, but he was young and dumb and he let her slip away… but fortunately for him fate is giving him a second chance. The minute Zoey walks back into his life he knows that this is his chance to finally finish what they started so many years ago, but it’s not going to be easy because she is going through a nasty divorce, and a relationship is definitely the last thing on her mind. Good thing Jude is the master of persuasion!
No matter where life has taken her, Zoey, has always carried a little piece of Jude with her, when she was young he was her everything, then her family moved away, and she lost him. But with the help of the internet, she has watched him follow his hockey dream, and conquer every challenge put in front of him, including a long line of puck bunnies… sometimes secretly wishing she was in that line! But then she met the guy that she thought was “the one”, and she gave up on that little secret wish. But when the life plan she made with her husband doesn’t go as they planned, he decides their marriage is over and she is left brokenhearted and alone. Good thing fate is on her side, and puts her on the same path as her hockey playing ex. Seeing Jude again is something she never thought would happen, but now that he is back in her life she isn’t ready to let him go just yet… they have unfinished business after all!
I think I was pretty much sold on this one, just after seeing the cover, not only because the story was centered around a hockey player, but also because of who was at the helm. Every time I have settled down with one of Ms. Denault’s reads I have been very impressed by what I have found, and I have to say Score is another winner for this very talented author. I truly enjoyed reading Jude and Zoey’s story, it was, by my definition, the perfect romance story; it made me laugh, awakened my emotions, had me blushing a few times, and left me with a permanent smile on my face! If you like your fairy tales a little on the spicy side and equipped with a smooth (sometimes dirty) talking hockey player, then I HIGHLY recommend you meet Jude, he is sure to score a special place in your heart and leave you highly satisfied!!