Review of Scoring Wilder

Synopsis

What started out as a joke— seduce Coach Wilder—soon became a goal she had to score.

With Olympic tryouts on the horizon, the last thing nineteen-year-old Kinsley Bryant needs to add to her plate is Liam Wilder. He's a professional soccer player, America's favorite bad-boy, and has all the qualities of a skilled panty-dropper.
• A face that makes girls weep – check.
• Abs that can shred Parmesan cheese (the expensive kind) – check.
• Enough confidence to shift the earth’s gravitational pull – double check.
Not to mention Liam is strictly off limits . Forbidden. Her coaches have made that perfectly clear. (i.e. “Score with Coach Wilder anywhere other than the field and you’ll be cut from the team faster than you can count his tattoos.”) But that just makes him all the more enticing…Besides, Kinsley's already counted the visible ones, and she is not one to leave a project unfinished.

Kinsley tries to play the game her way as they navigate through forbidden territory, but Liam is determined to teach her a whole new definition for the term “team bonding.”

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Review

I first have to say that the synopsis is a little misleading as it implies that the heroine pursued her coach solely for the challenge. Fortunately, it was more of case of instant attraction and her friends teasing her about their apparent chemistry. There was a lot on the line for the characters so it would have frustrated me if that were the case as I tend to get turned off by utter recklessness. Now, as for my opinion of the book as a whole, I loved it. I would classify it as a guilty pleasure book because it wasn’t particularly deep, dark, or even realistic but I loved it all the same. I mean, who hasn’t had the hots for their coach and wished he was a crushing on them just as hopelessly? Fortunately, this is new adult (adult being the operative word) so it doesn’t have any of the potentially seedy ramifications that crushing on your high school coach could result in.

The heroine is a badass soccer player, is remarkably self-assured when it comes to interactions with the opposite sex, is a loyal friend, and is grounded. Not everyone can be a top tier soccer player but I loved the fact that the heroine was constantly working her tail off. That is a big pro for me as I hate stories where the character is somehow the best of the best and yet, magically, doesn’t do much more than show up for practice like everyone else. The heroine has some insecurities regarding fidelity but does a pretty good job of not letting it hijack her every thought.

The hero: Well he is pretty much perfect. He is gorgeous, rich, successful, faithful, romantic… So, yeah, that is the only part that might be a negative for some people as he has a bit of a too good to be true vibe going but, like I stated above, I loved it anyways. I have a serious girl-crush on the heroine and want to be just like her when I grow up. I found the premise relatable, though on a much grander scale. The conflicts weren’t particularly dark but were effective nonetheless. And…the author wraps everything up with a tidy bow, because she can.

For those of you from the rest of the world, I apologize for the gratuitous use of the term “soccer” and any frustration experienced as a result.

Try it for yourself! Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon UK 

Katie