Jodie Slaughter's Ready to Score delivers a compelling sapphic romance set against the backdrop of Southern high school football, intertwining themes of ambition, rivalry, and unexpected love.

Slaughter excels in crafting protagonists with depth and authenticity. Jade's resilience and Francesca's journey of rediscovery are portrayed with nuance, making their individual arcs as engaging as their developing relationship. The chemistry between them is palpable, intensified by their competitive natures and shared passion for football.

However, some readers might find the pacing uneven, particularly in sections where internal monologues revisit established conflicts without advancing the plot. Additionally, the transition from rivalry to romance, while satisfying, could benefit from a more gradual development to enhance believability.

Overall, Ready to Score is a heartfelt exploration of love, ambition, and the courage to pursue one's dreams. Slaughter's engaging prose and well-drawn characters make this novel a rewarding read for fans of contemporary romance.

As someone who's not really into football, I found "Ready to Score" by Jodi Slaughter a surprisingly enjoyable read. The story of two women, Jade and Franny, striving to make their mark as football coaches was both refreshing and empowering. I loved seeing their determination and grit as they faced the challenges of working in a field typically dominated by men. It really opened my eyes to the struggles women might face in such positions.
One thing that stood out to me was the electric chemistry between Jade and Franny. The sexual tension was almost tangible, and when they finally got together, it felt like a well-deserved payoff. I appreciated that their relationship didn't fall into the typical trap of unnecessary drama, allowing their journey to take center stage.
However, I did notice a hiccup in the plot concerning Alonzo, a player on the team. Early in the book, he's grappling with his dad's recent hospitalization, but later, there's mention of his father passing away years ago, which was a bit confusing. I hope this gets ironed out because it did pull me out of the story for a moment.
While the book flows well and is easy to read, I felt it could have been a bit shorter. There were points where it dragged due to some unnecessary filler. Plus, the ending was a tad abrupt for my taste. I would have loved more closure, especially regarding Jade's triumphs as a coach.
Even with these small issues, I really appreciated the authentic representation of queer women in football. It's a perspective that's not often highlighted, and I think the book does a great job of bringing it to life. Despite wishing for a bit more depth in the romantic connection between Jade and Franny, their dynamic kept me engaged.
All in all, "Ready to Score" is a delightful and enlightening read that balances ambition and romance beautifully. I'd give it 4 stars—it's memorable for both its unique setting and the powerful portrayal of women pushing boundaries.

Thank you to NetGalley for getting me this ARC!

I did enjoy this novel, and while I do LOVE sapphic spice, I didn't think the characters were that great of a match. Sometimes that happens, because characters start to have a mind of their own when writing and they become less like the originally intended character. I think that's what happened here. Regardless, I still really enjoyed the spice!

There were a couple of hiccups with continuity, like ages and mentions of a death that hadn't happened yet. Finding a very detail oriented editor will get rid of any of these and make the coming novels even better. Excited to see where Jodie goes with their writing and can't wait to read the next. x

3.5 ★

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of Ready to Score!

Ready to Score has all the components of a romance novel made For Me: rivals to lovers, workplace romance, grumpy, & sports romance (high school football coaches!). Unfortunately, the writing fell short for me overall. Being in your 30s and still committed to miscommunication is exhausting and silly!

I enjoy it when it takes some sweetness to thaw a particularly frosty character, but Jade’s treatment & deliberate embarrassment of Franny in the beginning was almost straight up cruel. Jade’s character development was strong, but I also feel that there was no explanation as to why she is the way she is, besides “being a woman in a male dominated field is hard” & “the art teacher got a smart board and I didn’t boohoo”.

The writing is decent overall and kept me engaged, but there’s gotta be better descriptors than constantly talking about nipples hardening.

Despite my gripes, I still enjoyed Ready to Score and ended up finishing it in a day!

This was my first venture into sports romance, and while I’m not super interested in anything to do with sports or football unless it’s the Kendrick Lamar 2025 Super Bowl half-time show, I did have a fun time reading this book, and would recommend it!

I also fell heavily in love with Francesca Lim. I love her style, I love her confidence and passion. Give me one chance, Franny, I beg!

The author wrote Jade and Franny’s sexual chemistry extremely well, and loved the build-up to their actual relationship.

I do wish that we could have seen a little more development with Franny and Jade’s relationships to the players as coaches, the little bit that we saw was so sweet and I think it would have endeared me more to the characters. However, more time spent on coach/player relationships would leave less time on the page for the Bowling League which I ADORE.

I received a copy of Ready To Score on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this one but it never quite hooked me. I do know some people who will absolutely love it though, and I look forward to adding it our library's collection.

I hate DNFing books. I hate giving books poor reviews. On the rare occasion where I find myself in this situation, I usually just… don’t say anything. I quietly drop the book and go about my business. Unfortunately, this one is an ARC sent to me by the publisher, so I feel honor bound to review it. As it is, I will submit my review to NetGalley but probably will not post it to retail sites.

Anywho… I didn’t like the book. And I couldn’t bring myself to slog through it. The protagonists were so incredibly disagreeable. I honestly have no clue what possessed the author to write them as such terrible people. Now, understand, I have no issue with ambition. Or aggressive women who go after what they want. I am not, however, overly fond of petty. Or spiteful. Or entitled. Or immature or hateful or self-centered… you get the picture. And of the two Jade was most definitely the most unlikable. But Fran was not much better. While the latter seemed less spiteful in what I did read of the book, she also seems frivolous and entitled and underhanded. These two definitely have chemistry, but it isn’t in any good sense.

2.5⭐️

I feel so bad but this was just not it for me. Usually I like a rivals/enemies to lovers but Jade was so mean. Like, cruel at times. And then they go on one date and move in together? And it all happened within like two months of summer vacation? That seems like a veeeery swift change. I don't know. I liked Bet On It and hadn't realized this was connected so I enjoyed that, but I was just kind of disappointed. And it seemed much longer than 320 pages because I was just waiting to see the connection and chemistry between Jade and Franny.

An enemies-to-lovers that honestly felt a little too 'enemies' to me, this novel was enjoyable but doesn't shine as much as I thought it would. This novel is heavy on the football info, so be ready for that!

Love love love. This sapphic sports romance gave me everything that I want from a rom-com. The banter between rivals was good. If you are a sports fan I think that it makes it even easier to love because you understand the passion of the characters and why the rivalry is so strong even though they are clearly a good match. I did enjoy how the book tried to deal with how women are forced to compete even more in male-dominated fields because there really is not space made for everyone, even when it's not fair.

The romance and spice built well throughout the book. Even when they were at odds, you really root for them.

Honestly, I only made it about 15% of the way through this one. I really just kept getting annoyed at how the two main characters hated each other like as adults and over football? And they barely cared about teaching which was honestly one of the most annoying parts of this book that started making it seem like it was going to be a quirky Abbott Elementary-esque book.

Two queer female teachers are vying for a football coaching job at a South Carolina high school, in this sapphic rivals-to-lovers sports romance.

I wanted to like this one more than I did. Jade just wasn't likeable. She saw Franny as competition through the first third of the book, even with Franny pointing out that two women in the male-dominated sport would have more power. Both characters felt a bit one-dimensional and their attraction felt superficial.

I received this ARC from @netgalley and publisher @stmartinspress. The opinions are my own.

Ready to Score will be released on June 3, 2025.

“Ready to Score” by Jodie Slaughter is a fantastic adult sapphic romance novel. The book features Jade and Franny, two high school teachers trying to coach football. Jade sees Franny as competition so the book starts out with enemies-to-lovers vibes. One-sided though, as Franny always attempted to get on Jade’s good side, even if she played along with the competition.

While I wasn’t initially thrilled about the book's premise, I really liked the cover and decided to read it anyway. But after starting, I couldn’t put it down! I love how strong of characters Jade and Franny are, as they’re breaking into a male-dominated field as two queer women of color. The chemistry between the two is intoxicating and sexy.

Even if you’re not a sports fan, I highly recommend this book for the romance and for the fierceness of the characters. If you are a sports fan, even better!

I really enjoyed Jodie Slaughter’s “Ready to Score” even though football isn’t usually my thing. Slaughter did a great job creating authentic coach characters who weren’t too cheesy or over the top. I like the enemies to lovers aspect of this book and thought the chemistry between Franny and Jade was great. I wish there had been more spicy bits earlier on though I know that’s the nature of an enemies to lovers story. Overall a very good read!

Jodie Slaughter’s *Ready to Score* is a delightful and sizzling romance set against the backdrop of a charming small southern town. The story follows Jade Dunn, an ambitious assistant coach who’s determined to break through the layers of old-fashioned small-town politics to secure a coveted head coach position. When she joins a monthly poker game to network, she never expects to find Francesca Lim, an infuriatingly attractive art teacher who seems to be eyeing her career spot. The sparks between the two women fly as they clash, both professionally and personally, but they can’t help the undeniable chemistry that brews beneath their rivalry.

What makes *Ready to Score* so enjoyable is the strength and depth of its main characters. Jade and Francesca are both fiercely driven yet vulnerable, making their interactions captivating and relatable. Their dynamic is a perfect mix of tension, banter, and romance, and readers will find themselves rooting for them to navigate their personal and professional challenges. Slaughter’s portrayal of the small-town setting adds a quaint, almost nostalgic charm to the story, making it feel like an escape into a community where everyone knows everyone else’s business. The blend of passionate romance with real-world ambition creates a story that’s both heartwarming and exciting, making *Ready to Score* a must-read for fans of contemporary romance.

I was excited to check this one out—I love a good enemies-to-lovers romance, especially when both main characters are compelling or there’s a satisfying redemption arc. Unfortunately, that didn’t quite happen here. I never really warmed up to Jade, and I struggled to understand what Franny saw in her beyond surface-level attraction.

That said, I did enjoy the small-town setting and the charming supporting cast.

Overall, this was a decent read, but it didn’t fully win me over.

#ReadytoScore #NetGalley

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

AGHHHHHH OMG!!!!
This book was so much better than I expected. The tension, the strong female leads, the banter, and on and onnn.

This was a cute and quick read to pick up in between longer/heavier reads. I really enjoyed Lim's character and how straightforward she was. Even when Jade was being beyond stubborn, the fact that Lim stayed so constant and open about her emotions really helped the plot move forward and not feel like your typical "miscommunication trope."
The one thing I will say, is that I felt like it was advertised as enemies to lovers, but it was clear from the start that they were both attracted to each other so it felt a little contrived how mean Jade was to Lim. Later, on we do get the reasoning behind this, but I still would've loved to see a LOT less of that.
ALSO, side note but the concussion/cooking scene was too sweet.

Overall, a solid 4 start read. I read the full book in one sitting and truly did enjoy it for the most part!

I think this is a sweet romance that I really wanted to love, but ended up not being for me. I love Jodie Slaughter, especially Bet On It so I was so excited to see more of those characters. However the main points of this book were teaching and sports and both fell flat for me. I am not a sports person and it felt like the sports took over at points. Obviously that doesn't make this book bad because you should be able to infer that from the title and cover, but it made it hard for me to get into it. As a teacher the school stuff fell between too realistic that I felt like I was at work and having a bad time, or so unrealistic that I was frustrated and taken out of the story. Again, I love Slaughter and I think the writing style and character development are strong so I'm going to rate it objectively, but I don't have too many specifics because I was really struggling to pick this book up.

I enjoyed reading this book, it was a quick and fun read. However, one of my main gripes with the book is how their romantic relationship developed. They had obvious sexual attraction and chemistry but I did not see the romantic aspect develop in the same way, to the point where it was surprising to see Franny demand a relationship. It almost felt like they should just be getting together because they’re the two gay, football coaches, so obviously they’ll be together. I just wish I got to see more of the romanticism develop rather than Jade’s stubbornness and bad attitude drag on for so long.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! The plot was engaging and full of twists that kept me hooked until the very end. The characters were well-developed and relatable, and I found myself really connecting with their journeys. The pacing was just right, balancing action with moments of reflection. However, there were a few areas where I felt certain storylines could have been explored a bit more deeply. Despite that, the book offered a memorable experience, and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a thought-provoking read!