This was not for me.
The MCs are supposed to be adults, but read more like young teenagers with the level of immaturity they exuded.
By the time the characters started acting (about) their age I was 3/4 of the way in and no longer cared.
The narrator did an incredible job and was a large part of why finishing this one wasn't mind melting.
Thank you NetGalley & Dreamscape Media for my ALC.

This had a lot of potential, and there were definitely parts I enjoyed. The setup was fun, the banter had its moments, and the chemistry between the characters was solid. I liked the second chance angle and the backdrop of professional sports—it gave the story a fresh vibe.

That said, the pacing felt a bit uneven, and I struggled to fully connect with the characters on a deeper level. Some of the emotional moments didn’t land as strongly as I wanted, and certain conflicts felt rushed or glossed over.

Overall, it was a decent read—fun, flirty, and with plenty of steam—but it didn’t fully deliver the emotional depth I was hoping for. Enjoyable, but not a standout for me.

This is not listed as a sequel so I will call it a stand alone novel that is in the same world as Play to Win (July 2023) and Bet on It (July 2022). I have read those contemporary romances and enjoyed the representation and diversity in race, sexuality and body shape and size. The books all take place in the small town of Greenbelt, South Carolina and this is the first one to feature a f/f romance.

Jade Dunn and Francesca Lim are both teachers at the local high school. Jade has been there for years and has worked very hard to be part of the assistant coaches for the football team. When the current head coach announces this will be his last year, Jade is all in to prove that she is worthy of being made head coach. Francesca helped coach junior teams in Texas before she moved to Greenbelt two years and asked to join the coaching staff.

I never bought into Franny being a contender for the head coach spot so the perceived rivalry by Jade didn’t make a lot of sense. Jade’s antics only made her come off as juvenile and petty. I honestly didn’t understand why Franny was interested in Jade. But of course they are attracted to each other. I enjoyed the cameos from the previous books. Jade’s bowling group friends are there to add some extra humor but I find crass to be cringe. There is a good portion of the book that focuses on football (American). I am a college level football fan and understand the rules and positions discussed. But others could find those parts of the story less interesting.

I did enjoy the narration by Esme Ramos. Thank you to NetGalley and fDreamscape Media for the audio book and I am leaving an honest review.

I’m not really a fan of sport romance but this was set in high school so I wanted to try. And I’m glad I did. This story is so wholesome. I love this book so much. I love Francesca a normal amount, I promise!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

As a white, queer woman, I’m not in a position to comment on the deeper cultural or identity based struggles the characters face, so I’ll leave that to reviewers with the lived experience to speak to it.

That said, I really enjoyed this audiobook overall. The narrator did a fantastic job. There was emotion, variation, and energy throughout, which kept me engaged the entire time. No monotone droning here!

Story wise , this was a solid 4-star read for me. I do think I would’ve gotten more out of it if I’d read the first two books in the series beforehand. Jumping into this one as a standalone worked, but I could tell I was missing some context and character history that likely would've deepened the emotional payoff.

To my surprise, the author even managed to make me care about football and that’s coming from someone who exclusively watches F1, mostly for the lore.

Initially, I found the main characters frustrating—especially Jade. I was ready to rate the book lower because of how hard it was to connect with her at first. But the more I sat with it, the more I realized just how *relatable* she actually is. Haven’t we all, at some point, been so hyperfocused on a goal that we started projecting, self-sabotaging, or assuming the worst of others?

Jade’s flaws felt real, and while I still wanted to shake some sense into her a few times, her journey felt grounded in emotional truth. That said, I do wish certain things were explored more deeply. For example, it didn’t quite make sense that Jade was funding so much for the school but not for her own room. And I couldn’t quite figure out what Franny’s actual qualifications were or why she forgave Jade’s behavior so quickly and easily without more conversation or pushback.

Overall, this was an engaging listen with a lot of heart, even if some parts left me with lingering questions. I’d definitely recommend it.

I liked lots of things about this book, how both main characters stood for certain issues, I thought they had good physical chemistry however I didn't personally see much of a deep emotional connection. The audiobook narration was good however I wished it was dual narration as at times it was confusing to decifer the pov

This was so cute! I'm not the biggest enemies to lovers in the workplace fan but this worked for me. I felt the connection between Jade and Franny from the beginning and even when they weren't getting along I could feel the tension building.

I felt like they did a good job of showing up for one another and taking accountability for things they did in the past. I liked that in the end it came down to them just being each others biggest fans and loving each other so much. It was real cute (and real hot).

The only thing I struggled with was that it was a little too unnecessarily long and a lot of that had to do with how much they talked about football. I know they're coaches!!!

But I still enjoyed it and the narrator was fantastic! I loved her voice so much.

This is my second time reading Jodie Slaughter and I can't wait to read more from her.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ALC.

Boy oh boy I didn't like this writing style. Maybe will work for others but i'm just going to bow out with a three star "not for me" review.

I probably was not the target audience for this, given how little I seem to have the ability to get invested in high school sports.
I had a hard time relating to Jade and Franny as the main characters and while there was some level of character development, you had to look reallyyyyy hard to find it.
It was a small town, sapphic enemies to lovers story between two queer BIPOC teachers who are both shooting for the same high school football coaching job.

However, the narration was solid and I'm sure there is an audience for this somewhere.

Thanks to netgalley for the audio arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the Audio ARC of Ready to Score.

2.5 rounded up.

First, the narrator did a great job. The audio was a fun experience.

Though, the premise of the story wasn't exactly what I was expecting; in some parts that was a pleasant surprise and in others it wasn't what I am into at all.

The writing was really well done. I loved the diversity and how each character was explored, but the story as a whole just didn't grab me and keep me engaged.

However, even though individually I liked the characters enough, I didn't not enjoy this coupling.

Over all, this story was just okay. Not great. Not terrible. I have not read the other books in this series as I believed it was a fully stand alone book before hand, so I can not personally compare it to the others.

I was excited to receive this audio arc and listen to an enemies to lovers sapphic teacher romance. However this book just felt flat and parts of it didn't make sense.

For example, I didn't really understand in the beginning why they didn't like each other. Another part that didn't make sense was that Jade was gifted a decent sum of money that she used to donate anonymously to the school. However she didn't use it on better tech for her classes and was mad she didn't get a grant for it when another teacher did? It just seemed a little odd.

Also I love a good enemies to lovers but their pranks just seemed mean and off. The bingo scene especially made me cringe and feel a bit embarrassed.

I wanted to love this book and overall I just felt meh at best towards it.

I was SO excited for this book but ultimately couldn't get into it. I like enemies to lovers, but Jade's hatred for Francesca Lim felt very overblown—I couldn't figure out why she was SO against the other woman, especially since she hated her before the football stuff became an issue. I am also down for sapphic spice, but I felt like the issues between them weren't resolved enough for me to be on board with it once they started kissing. I think I needed more interiority from the characters—it felt like I was told Jade hated Francesca, then that they were both attracted to each other, but I never really *felt* the attraction.

I can definitely see why some of the other reviewers liked it, but at the end of the day I wasn't rooting for the two to end up together, which I need to in a Romance.

I did like Esme Ramos's narration and I think that helped me stick with the story for longer than I would have if I'd been eyeball reading.

Jodie Slaughter has been on my TBR longer than I’d like to admit, but I am but a simple lesbian so it took a sapphic romance to fully crack the seal lol. I really enjoyed this book, and the antagonist between Jade and Franny was delightful. I loved Jade’s journey in particular as she learns how to open herself up to support instead of trying to be a one-woman force of nature. I’m already planning to read more of Slaughter’s romances because I really loved the emotional pacing and the story. The audiobook was really good and Esme Ramos does an excellent job, giving each of the characters a distinct voice.

I am not sure how I feel about this book. The bare bones are great. However, I feel like the enemies part of the storytelling was too long and Jude was upright mean a lot of the times. It didn't make me feel so happy about the two do them talking it out and getting together. However, I did really like their amition and drive, especially as non white women in male dominated fields. So I would've liked it better if some of that rivalry time would've been used to show us more of that, their struggles. That could've also been used as a bridge to showing us that the two of them aren't that different from another.

Another thing I would've loved a little more is their culture, taking they are both not white, but from different backgrounds. Merging the two could be interesting, or at least a bit more of Francesca's family towards the end. We saw them regularly in the first half, but suddenly not much more.

The narration of the audiobook was done beautifully!

I think if you like football and saphic romances, you could give this one a try. I don't think I will re-read it in the future though.

This is an honest review in exchange for an ALC. Thank you to Dreamscape Media, Jodie Slaughter and NetGalley for the ALC

A Sapphic football romance. That's all you need to know, right? This book combines small-town politics, the importance of adult mentors in sports, and building a career as a person whose identity is underestimated in that space.

I enjoyed the nuance of the side characters in this book. There was a lot of depth of relationships and character development of many characters.

The narrator had a soothing voice that was enjoyable to listen to and well produced.

Genre: Sports Romance
Age: Adult
Tropes: Rivals to lovers
Spice: Multiple scenes that were well written and relatable. Fairly vanilla.
Themes: Building a career, women in sports, competing vs community
Representation: Black Main Character, Asian Main Character, women in sports
Read For: Netgalley
Obtained From: Thanks to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the Advanced Listening Copy of this Audiobook.
Song Recommendation for the vibe: Get'cha Head in the Game from High School Musical
Hashtags: #readytoscore #netgalley #sapphicbooks #sportsromance

Full disclosure I was not convinced at the start of this read. The context of enemies to lovers in FF with a backdrop of high school was giving a small trigger moment for me of the way women are pitted against each other all too often.

HOWEVER, Jodie brought it around and potentially healed a few of those feelings. By the end, I had a bit of fun with this ALC.

If you like a sporty contemporary feel, come this way. I appreciated the conversation and the self-assessment our main characters went through and ultimately have no regrets seeing this through.

We are of the age where many romances gay or straight become so mainstream that it’s hard in the romance genre to not be generic. Two competitive teachers appear to be fighting for better opportunities, but in actuality they’re too stubborn to tell each other that they have romantic feelings for each other. Nothing was inherently wrong off the bat but I struggled to connect to the characters and root for them.

Two years ago, I enjoyed Jodie Slaughter’s romance, Play to Win, so I was excited to read more from her. Her newest book is Ready to Score, a rivals-to-lovers romance between two women aiming for the same head coach position at the high school where they work. Though both books (and Bet on It) are set in the same world, Ready to Score works as a standalone.

What I Liked:
- Representation in a male-dominated field. American football, including the high school variety, is very much a men’s club. I liked seeing two queer women of color working in high school football and aiming to become head coach. Both have to navigate misogyny, but they’re passionate enough about the sport to persevere.
- The characters feel real. Both Jade and Francesca are complex characters who jump off the page. Jade, in particular, has a lot of growing to do, and I appreciated her arc and learning from her mistakes.
- The story is engaging. Despite its shortcomings (detailed below), I did find the world and characters easy to immerse myself in. It helps that I read the previous book in the series (though not the first one yet).

What Didn’t Work for Me:
- Jade is too mean. For most of the book, Jade isn’t just acting like Francesca’s professional rival; she’s acting like she truly hates her. Even before they were aiming for the same coaching position, Jade was always dismissive of or cruel to Franny. I don’t understand why?? And for some reason Franny has a crush on Jade the whole time anyway? Girl, find someone nicer.
- Their romance doesn’t really work. Because the enemies aspect goes too far here, I found it impossible to root for Jade and Francesca as a couple. They just shouldn’t have been together. If the novel had taken them on a different journey, maybe to teaming up or at least just becoming friends, it would have helped. But as it is, they just don’t have chemistry.

Audiobook:
Esme Ramos does a great job of narrating Ready to Score. This is the second book I’ve heard her narrate (the other being Ms. V’s Hot Girl Summer by A. H. Cunningham), and both times I’ve enjoyed her gentle tone of voice and skilled characterization. Here, she provides a Southern accent to several characters, helping to bring the setting to life. She allows the book to shine with her subtle narration.

Final Thoughts
Though I wanted to like Ready to Score, and although I enjoyed the previous book in the series, this one fell a bit flat for me. It’s well-written and engaging, but I just couldn’t see the two main characters ever having a good relationship. They needed something more to connect the dots between mean rivals and women in love.

While I didn’t like this one so much, I do still want to go back and read the first book in this series, Bet on It, and I’ll try out more books from Jodie Slaughter.

This had the potential to be a great book because the storyline was current and interesting, but it had lots of graphic and detailed spiciness that I felt detracted from the story. It was all I could do to get through it and finish it.

thank you so much for the approval- i cannot wait to dive in, this is one of my most anticipated reads of the year! i will be sure to leave a review on GR/retailers to come! 💞