If you want a cute one sided rivals to lovers story this is it! I loved Franny and her energy with Jade a must read I was truly so into this read. And the spice made sense I love that!!!!

DNF"d at 4%

I just was not feeling this one. I'm not sure if football in the summertime was why but it was not pulling me in at all. I will probably circle back in the fall to try it via audio.

Overall the dislike of the two characters in the work place was not my favorite set up for a rivals to lovers.

Rival to lovers of two teacher vying for coaching position of their High school football team. Jade Dunn has spend years as assistant coach and she isn’t going to let Francesca Lim swoop in and take the top coach position just it’s finally opening up. The Rivalry is really one sided as Lim wants a coaching position with the team but she knows she’s not ready for head coach so doesn’t understand Jade’s animosity. Lim wants to work with Jade on and off the field.

The characters are determined and likeable. There is some things that pulled me out of the story becoming they seemed unrealistic (how long were they in that bar bathroom uninterrupted?!?). However I overall enjoyed this romance. There is lots of yearning with a spicy payoff.

I really could not get into this romance. Franny and Jade never felt right together, they never had chemistry and the “enemies” part of their relationship was just Jade being cruel. There are so few women in football I hated to read of one woman tearing down another for any amount of time. It also dragged on and on. After 3 tries of Jodie Slaughter, I think I need to give up and accept that her books are not for me.

I desperately wanted to like this book but knew from the first page I wasn’t going to because of the writing. The “enemies” portion felt very catty/childish and I wasn’t a fan of that, it pulled me away from the actual romance part.

I really enjoyed this book! It was the perfect mix of sports romance and enemies-to-lovers tension. The banter and back-and-forth between the two FMCs was sharp, fun, and full of chemistry—the slow burn and angst leading up to their first encounter was everything I hoped for.

Beyond the romance, this book did an amazing job shedding light on the challenges women face in male-dominated spaces. The fact that both leads are women of color added an extra layer of complexity and depth that made their journeys even more compelling.

This book was great. I really loved how they talked about Texas football and how it is really a huge part of the community. I also thought it was very important. How they went over racial and queer aspects of living in certain places. Overall, it was very Hallmark adjacent, which I loved.

A fun, spicy romance with some excellent banter and fun characters! I really enjoyed the dual POV of this book, and how both women had their own goals but also were drawn to each other. The spice was spicing, although I do feel like it went from 0-100 real fast. But besides that, I had a great time reading this, and it's great for people who want a good romance with heart and heat!

This was a quick, sports Sapphic read! Im not a big sports person, but I could see how passionate they both were for the game and that was fun to read about. The spicy scenes were quite spicy and hot! And the tension between the two main characters was good, overall, I'd say this is a 3.5 star read for me. Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for my digital ARC!!

cute fun and adorable this book was a delight to read. While not my favourite of the trilogy, it was an adorable conclusion to the series. The dynamic between Francesca and Jade was filled with so much tension and playfulness that I could not look away or put the book down.

I appreciate NetGalley for providing this ARC!

This story features a classic enemies-to-lovers theme, highlighting the contrast between the optimistic "sunshine" character and the grumpy one. Francesca is an art teacher at a new school, while Jade is trying to become the head coach at her Southern high school. When Francesca also seeks that position, tensions arise.

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel any chemistry or friendship between Francesca and Jade, and their romance seemed forced by the plot rather than developing naturally. However, I did enjoy the storyline itself; it was unique yet relatable. Overall, it was a nice and quick read.

I loved the enemies to lovers story that Jade and Francesca had built together. I personally felt like their dynamic was unique and not like any story in the trope, that I’ve ever read before. Although, I am not a huge football fan, I felt as their passion for the sport was apparent and spilled over into their passion for each other. I definitely would recommend if you love spicy sports romance!

I very much wanted to like this book. It has all the elements I usually love. A rivals-to-lovers, sports, LGBT relationship sounds perfect to me. But I struggled with the writing, which I found to be pretty choppy. Also, I could not make myself like Fran. The name "Franny" alone bothers me (an arbitrary complaint that I don't even consider in my reviews), but her attitude just sealed it. I just wasn't a fan.

you could not pay me enough money to give enough a fuck about football for this book to have emotional pull with me, even as a lesbian, im so sorry but not at all actually. sorry sports gays

I loved Bet on It by Jodie Slaughter so I was excited to read this book. Though I i like an enemies to lovers book, I don't when adults act childish and actively try to hurt the other. I more like it when misunderstanding makes people "enemies." So this book was not for me. I found the main characters unlikeable, but not in an antihero way. I was excited to see queer women in a sports book but just didn't connect to this one. I will read other books by Slaughter, this one was just a miss for me.

i don't really understand this one? normally it's fine w me that a book is abt sports even if i don't know much about it, but this one just didn't work for me and I'm not sure if its because i don't know enough about sports or what. 3.5 stars. tysm for thea rc.

I really wanted to love this book far more than I did. What claimed to be an enemies to lovers romance felt more like a bully romance - if I really even want to use the word romance. Enemies to Lovers is not mean, vicious, and just plain cruel actions against another - at least it's not in my world! The bingo incident left an incredibly bad taste in my mouth as the sheer embarrassment that resulted just wasn't worth anything. But then when Franny ACCIDENTALLY spilled her juice? That was cruel and plain vicious. They wouldn't work, and I just really was so disgusted. I kept being told by the author that there was chemistry - but it was never shown and so many actions were just belittling and rather ick.

The football talk was also incredibly way too long - it was like it was used as filler but it was just very extensive.

Then - why on earth was the Smart Board referred too so often? Why can she fund the school but not get what she wants? Why was it mentioned at all if she was just going to moan about not gettiing funding? I'm so confused.

Really what I loved was the representation and lack of white men. I LOVED a female football coach - especially at the high school level as that is just SO delicious to me. I also love that the challenges faced by minorities was touched on! Overall, I think this novel will work for a lot of people, and think that it could even be seen as fun, it's just not the book for me!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

I never liked football more. 4 stars!

I appreciated the tension between the two main characters-- although most of it felt one sided in comparison to other "enemies to lovers" plots I've read. Jade's uncertainty, and downright hostility, towards Francesca was believable. I also liked that Francesca "Franny" would brush it off casually-- she's better than me!

I really enjoyed learning about the town, the student athletes, and the diverse dynamics the MCs had with their families.

3.75 stars rounded up to 4

Ready to Score by Jodie Slaughter follows Jade Dunn and Francesca Lim, two queer women of color teaching at the same high school and vying for a coveted coaching position with the football team. Where Francesca thinks they are stronger together, Jade is stuck in the mindset that there's only room for one queer woman of color in the football program and so if Francesca succeeds, she will fail. This leads to some pretty silly choices, with Jade setting Francesca up for failure and ignoring the spark that she feels between them.

Enemies-to-lovers is a trope that can be hard to pull off, in my opinion. Sometimes the enemies are just too cruel to each other to ever make me believe that those feelings could turn into love in a remotely healthy way. At times, Jade's childish actions came close to being just a step too far where I struggle to see how Francesca could forgive her, but there were also genuine apologies, admission of wrong, and enough sweet moments between them that I was still rooting for them by the end. While football is not my sport of choice, Slaughter made the football content relatable and focused on the dynamics between the players and coaches rather than the sport itself, and I appreciated how fleshed out the various side characters felt - they were full people rather than just props for the main couple.

Ultimately I'd recommend this book to those who like their enemies to be on the harsher side, love some sports drama, and are interested in a slow burn turned high heat. Thanks NetGalley and SMP for the eARC!

DNF. Found one of the FMC immediately unlikable and kind of mean and didn't feel the romantic connection between these two.