Dirty Score

Hawkeyes Hockey #5

by Kenna King

When the rising star center forward for The Hawkeyes farm team gets a chance to move up to join the major league ranks, Penelope has to do everything in her power to keep her deep-seated grudge out of view.

The puck bunnies might all be swooning over the new tatted-up player sitting on the home bench, but she won't be fooled. He's a wolf, disguised in a Hawkeyes jersey. Penelope has never shared the heart-wrenching details of her and Slade's past with anyone, let alone her dad, but Slade's sudden appearance threatens to unravel her carefully guarded disdain. Slade Matthews, her father's protégé and her college bully are one and the same. She thought she'd never have to see him again, but with a new opening on the team and time of the essence to fill it, Slade gets his chance to move up. Now she has to hide her six-year-long grudge against the charismatic player who won't stop trying to win her over as if he forgot what he did to her all those years ago. As Slade makes a play to win Penelope, she's torn between the past and the future. Just when things couldn't get more complicated – an old love interest comes back into the fold, a person she met in one of the college's tutoring chat rooms that up and disappeared on her years ago has returned. Now, with her emotions skating on thin ice, Penelope finds herself in a tangled web of attraction, heartbreak, and rediscovered connections. Will she decide to let go of her grudge and finally let Slade in? Or is this an opportunity at a second chance with the pen pal who got away?

Genres: Hockey, Sports Romance, Hockey Romance, Romance, Sports, Enemies To Lovers, Second Chance

356 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 15, 2024

About the author

As an avid reader myself, and a Westcoast girl, I love two things: swoon-worthy pro athlete book boyfriends, and writing stories about them living in the beautiful Northwest where I'm blessed to call home.

I do my best work late at night after I’ve tucked in my three littles, and my hard-working husband.

Reviews

[Jenn (The Book Refuge) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to getting back with the Hawkeyes crew. While I did enjoy that, I wasn't a fan of this couple as a whole. As in, I loved Slade, but Penelope was not my cup of tea.

I thought the flashbacks were handled okay, which doesn't always work for me. But I'm not sure how much we needed them when both characters kept reminding us again and again and again how they got into this situation. I also felt like they were both written a bit young. So that grated on my nerves.

Slade was a dream and his grovel may go down as one of the longest plays I've read in a while. However, having Penelope continually give him a hard time and having her freak out SO out of proportion when certain things are revealed... it crushed any respect I still had for her.

I did listen to the audio book of this one and Mackenzie Cartwright and Alex Kidd made it a bit more bearable for me. I will continue the series though and I look forward to the next couple.

3 stars
3 on the spice scale

*Thank you to Must Love Audio and the author for an ALC.*

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good! Loving this series.
Once again, the grammatical errors are distracting.

[Rainy · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐️ 2.5/5
🌶️ 2.5/5

Notes:
- Enemies to Lovers
- Pen Pals
- Sports Romance (hockey)

Similar Books:
- Rules of the Game by Jessa Wilder, J Wilder (Both pen pals)

Tropes:
I thought the story started off really strong but then it just fell apart and became SO unrealistic. For starters, him keeping that secret was so unnecessary. Everyone has seen a teenage tv show - just move on at this point.

I am glad she got to achieve her dream but be so for real - she was not going to be a gold medalist at the Olympics. That is not how figure skating works.

They sorta just randomly slept together which really threw me off and I don't think worked for the plot. The almost accidental pregnancy was also so random.

Side Note: Found a lot of grammatical errors in the book.

[Christi (christireadsalot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dirty Score is an enemies to lovers, coach’s daughter, sports romance (hockey hero + figure skater heroine), with pen pals/secret identity too.

So this was my first time reading anything from this author or from this series. I was hoping to find a new-to-me sports romance to fall in love with and this one sadly just didn’t hit completely for me. Basically Penelope and Slade have a history, he’s her father’s protege who ends up moving up from the farm team to the major leagues. While everyone else is swooning over the new, tattooed player, Penelope is trying to steer clear from her college bully. She’s held a grudge for six years but has to act like everything is fine between them. She finds herself needing a new figure skater partner and they also happen to be secret pen pals (she just doesn’t realize she’s talking to him).

The characters in this felt younger than they’re supposed to be and I didn’t connect to either of them. I did like how he has a tattoo for her. I’m not sure if I would have been more invested if I read more books in this series that follows the hockey team, since this is the 5th book in. It was on the shorter and in audio format it was really easy to consume. The audiobook narrators were great, it was just the story I had a harder time connecting to.

I received an audio ALC, all thoughts in this review are my own.

[Kaylee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slade is one of THE BEST book boyfriends I’ve ever read about. He loved Penelope so much right from the jump and everything he did was for her. Why? I don’t know. She was almost unbearable and was the biggest grudge holder I’ve ever seen. To some extent, I could understand it. However, she blamed him for her not making the Olympic team when there were MANY factors that went into this including her partner of 6 years getting injured. She also didn’t really do anything to reach her goal either she just gave up. Meanwhile, as she’s sulking and blaming him for everything that’s gone wrong in her life, Slade is getting tattoos for her, buying her chai every single day, and MEMORIZING HER ROUTINES so that he can skate with her all to make her forgive him. I mean seriously. What he did didn’t even require this level of groveling but this man did it anyway without complaint. He was SOOOOO DOWN BAD and she gave us nothing. It seemed like she was only with him for the good sex and what he could offer her. Otherwise, she didn’t seem particularly interested in him as a person. All I’m saying is that I would’ve treated Slade way better than bitch ass Penelope. My two stars are solely for him alone

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m rating this book 4 stars because all my issues with it are logistical and not issues with the story itself. The conflict and resolution between Slade & Penelope made a lot of sense. Both characters are likable (maybe Slade more so than Penelope to me anyway). The spice level here is probably 4/5 🌶️ and the first spicy scene was probably my favorite as it was also comical to the plot in my opinion anyway. The ending and epilogue were satisfying and as this is part of a series, it’s likely these two will show up again which would be nice. My logistical issues as I’ll call them are basically the timelines in the book, to me they didn’t quite line up but unless you’ve extensively read a lot of other hockey romance novels then I don’t think it would bother you. And occasionally there would be some mispellings and grammatical errors that should have been caught in editing; albeit not enough for it to be overwhelmingly distracting. Overall, this was a sweet hockey romance that I would recommend and will likely read more books in the series.

[Christa Lemos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly thought going into this that I wasn’t going to enjoy it as much and it would be a repeat of book 2, but I was SO WRONG!

the pacing felt really well done, which is great because I feel the author has struggled with that in the past. and the romance was definitely the best yet, I was dying the whole time. also, perfect job setting up Seven for the next book, bc now I am in love with him and I need to know more.

I wish the injury was more “Pavelski in the 2016 Stanley Cup finals” than the way it went down, but I have still been waiting for something like that to happen and im glad it finally did with this couple!

[Aly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some great tropes: sports, second-chance romance, he falls first, and anonymous letters. The story was pretty cute, with Slade being a sweetheart and doting on Penelope and making me want to take her place.

I did get a bit frustrated that Penelope held on to her grudge for so long and Slade's reason for keeping what happened a secret felt dumb and unnecessary.

Overall I had an enjoyable time reading this and may go back and read some of the other stories from the team.

[Christina’s Bookshelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Okay the rest of the series so far hasn’t been the best with me doing 3.5 ratings. But this one I legit got emotional and teary eyed. I liked the storyline. Slade was a fantastic MMC I was rooting for!! Penelope is great in the other books but she was a little annoying in this one because some stuff had nothing to do with Slade. And also I hate an unnecessary miscommunication trope. But because I actually cried and was a mood read I gave it 5 stars based on vibes lol

Idk about the grammar stuff but unlike the first ones it doesn’t have the over detailing scenes/filler imagery.

I’ll actually recommend this one lol

[Marrissa Horton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always love a hockey romance and this one was so fun! It’s part of the 𝘏𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘏𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 but can be read as a standalone. It focuses on Penelope and Slade, who attended the same college, where her dad was his hockey coach. An incident occurred that altered both of their futures, and she was left hating him. Meanwhile he secretly pined after her for four years, until he is called up to play for the same team both Penelope and her dad are now working for. Poor Slade, he really wasn’t the smartest, but I was rooting for him 😂 I listened to the audiobook and absolutely loved the narration by Alex Kydd and Mackenzie Cartwright!
If you like:
🩵Hockey Romance
🏒Coach’s Daughter
💕Enemies to Lovers
🏒He Falls First
🩵Hidden Identity
🏒Second Chance
💕Figure Skating
🏒Dual POV
🩵Spice
Then I highly recommend 🎧

[Jasmine | Filthylittlereader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Hawkeyes world by has me completely hooked!

I think my absolute favorite thing was the pining. Slade was straight up GONE for Penelope. No matter the years, no matter how she felt, she had him mind, body and soul! It was just soo sweet. Gaaah, that tattoo.🥹
He also could get down and dirty so he was the perfect mix of everything I love in my hero.

Penelope was a wild one. I loved the way she took charge. She didn’t play any games. The car scene had me giggling in delight like a school girl.

There was a bit of hidden identity going on that left me on edge in anticipation but also tickled pink at the adorable ridiculousness of it. Poor Slade, my guy was shameless about doing any and everything to be in Penelope’s presence even if he knew there was a big chance his plan would end in complete disaster.

Their story kept me entertained from beginning to end. And yesss I want more of this world!

The audio was the extra scoop of ice cream with a cherry on top. Mackenzie Cartwright and Alex Kydd were the perfect Slade and Penelope. They made this story even sweeter with their narration.

[Hollie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was good. Love Slade feel a bit protective of him. But Penelope really annoyed me making big deals out of nothing and not allowing him to explain himself. Overall though good book.

[Jayde · Rating 2 out of 5]

- FMC was a whiny brat who needed to get over what happened to her by going to therapy.
- MMC is a pussy that should've said something when the incident happened.
- holy fuck this book is repetitive. we get it!!!! MMC dad is the best cardiovascular surgeon in the country. the author continued to bring that up in almost every one of the MMC chapters.
-WE KNOW HOW A FUCKING COPIER WORKS.
- the FMC is a fucking idiot. i am so exhausted with the miscommunication trope. i do not even know if it is miscommunication or it's her being a know-it-all and jumping to conclusions and the MMC being too much of a pussy to correct her. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ARE AN ICE SKATER AND YOU THINK THE ICE SKATE TATTOO WITH YOUR INITIALS AND FAVORITE FLOWERS IS FOR ANOTHER GIRL??!?!?!?!?!?!?!? babe, the penpal disappeared and reappeared the same time the MMC did and you did not even think to question it?? also, you are having sex with the MMC and you are still obsessing over a penpal?!?!?
- needs more editing. the author had quotes and the text messages in the wrong places.

[Stephanies.books_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. Penelope has been holding a grudge against Slade since college. It is reasonable why she's mad. It ruined her career in couples ice skating. I do believe her dropping out of college was a bit drastic.

Slade didn't do it purposely or at all honestly. He took the consequences from Penelope's dad, who was his coach at the time.

So, when he was called up to play in the NHL, he not only wanted to prove he could play on a team and win. He also wanted to win back Penelope. Which isn't an easy task.

It did get a bit boring as things were repeated over and over again. Their first sexual encounter didn't make since and was way spur of the moment and out of place.

Slade and Penelope's chemistry was a bit lacking for me. It definitely needed a bit more emotion between them.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never personally wanted to try out for the Olympics and had my dreams crushed, but jfc Penelope was so dramatic about literally everything. She dropped out of school because she couldn't find a new skating partner?

I mean, good on her for sticking to her guns for so long, but choosing Win over Slade?! Weird move dude!!!

And Slade, come on man, buck up and get your girl. Not telling her or her dad about the bet you put a stop to was just so unnecessary. Like why be a martyr over that?

[Carley Whitehead · Rating 2 out of 5]

penelope is the actual worst and apparently her two braincells are floating independently of one another and therefore having trouble putting a thought together.

[Sarah Bergan]

I'm not going to lie, Dirty Score wasn't my favorite of the series. I listened to an ALC copy of this book, the narration was great. You can never go wrong with Alex Kydd narrating as a hockey player, he fits the role so perfectly every time.

Going back to the story itself, I found our FMC fairly unlikable. She was oblivious for longer than I think was necessary when it came to her secret email tutee. I also found her character to be somewhat misogynistic unfortunately. I'm personally not a fan of the narratives where FMCs put down other women for being with or having feelings for the MMC. Calling them puck bunnies is just a substitute for worse words to call women. I also felt the story moved in an interesting pattern, slow and fast at certain times?

Overall, it was an enjoyable listen, I really enjoyed the Hawkeyes Hockey #4. I will definitely check out more of Kenna King's books. I think that was just a preference thing for me. I highly recommend listening to the audio if you decide to read it!

[Courtney Guest · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars!

I enjoyed this book. The MFC, Penelope has always been a character of interest in the other books, so I was happy to finally get her story!

This is a dual POV, he falls first, second chance sport romance. It has all the tropes, all the banter and spice.

Worth a read and I’m excited for the next one in the series!

[amberebooksandmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

figure skating and hockey

They go so well together and I loved the two characters. However this book seemed pushed when it came to the story, while I am so happy they found each other and got that happy ending I really feel like so many things that happen didn’t need to happen. I loved him and he is one of my favorite guys,

[Lori Tremain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slade and Penelope.
Good book, but the author, who proofread your books. #4 and#5 in series had major typos. PS. People go to the ER, not the ICU, after an injury.

[Cady Lucht · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pen and Slade

Gosh.. the banter in this book is NEXT level. Enemies to lovers vibe. Love at first sight. Slade first laid eyes on Pen at a frat party and fell in love. But then found out she was his coach’s daughter. So found ways around that, leading to Pen hating Slade. Years later it’s Slades turn to try and win her over.
Loved everything in this book, kept me hooked and engaged.
Highly recommend

[Lisa Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ thanksgiving day read.

[Chiara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew Slade and Penelope's story was going to be something else!

Now, onto Seven's! This is another one I've been looking forward to since reading Match Penalty

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

ruining her olympic dreams and still getting the girl....yeah okay

[Crystal White · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - I hate a bully romance

This man literally ruined her chances of going to the Olympics but gets she’s still pining after him? I don’t understand why or how she would have the hots for him after he ruined her life

[Pene|ope • Reading Slump, Send Help · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty cute second chance sports romance. I love the support and appearances of other characters. I haven't read any other books in this series, but it was clear what couples were from other books without it overwhelming this storyline. I love that the FMC had such a good support system, and that the relationship between the MMC and his parents took such a surprising turn. In a few different ways, this book showed the huge difference a little perspective can make in how you view someone.

Overall, this was a good read this morning. I enjoyed it. There were just some huge things that kept it from being an even better read for me.

‼️ SPOILERS ‼️

These characters were supposedly older and not in college anymore, but there's no way you can sell me on that. And this didn't feel like the NHL either, it felt like college hockey tbh, but that's not the biggest deal to me.

What is: this started out strong, and then I lost all respect for the FMC by the end. 4 years earlier, she had an emotional relationship with someone she only knew by email, before he ended things with very little explanation and disappeared. At the same time the MMC moves away in shame after being responsible for everything that went wrong in her life (or so she thinks because she's just fine believing rumors instead of talking to him to find out the truth). I'm sure you see where this is going.

So when the MMC she hates for ruining her life shows up in her life again 4 years later, at the same time that her mystery email guy also shows up, she's torn between the two when she starts to see that the MMC isn't the same guy anymore.

And she handles it horribly.

I was okay with the story until the end, where even though she realizes she's in fallen for the MMC, she still chooses a memory of someone who abandoned her 4 years ago (and still hadn't explained himself or made it possible to meet at that point) instead of the MMC. She ends things with him on the *chance* that she could have something with this mystery email guy. And no, I don't excuse her for the fact that they're actually the same person, she still grew to know and feel for the MMC and didn't choose him. At that point, all of her deep conversations with mystery email guy had taken place 4 years earlier, and since he came back into her life, the only conversations they had were of her venting or asking for help about the MMC, so why is she chasing a memory instead of something current with someone real?

All respect gone.

And listen, the reason the MMC allowed her to believe lies about him and sacrificed 4 years of his professional career to move to a low paying league in another country, was to earn back her father's trust and an opportunity to make things right with her because he'd been in love with her from day one. That's all noble and cute but the reason he had to do that instead of telling her the truth about what happened?? He didn't want her to know that he really threatened the guy for her (the start of all the incorrect rumors) because the guy was part of a ring of bets on who could sleep with the coach's daughter (the FMC) on the first date. For some reason that simple and ridiculous truth was worth keeping from her, letting her hate him for years, and delaying his career on the slim chance she would ever even speak to him again or even be single when he was back.

Yeah, that was dumb, and I had to do some major covering of eyes and pretending I wasn't reading that shit because the MMC was AWESOME.

I'm taking book husband material.

He was devoted, he actively looked for ways to make her life easier, ways to make up for how her life had gone wrong, or just ways to make her smile. She was his endgame, and at no point was that ever in question. He was determined and persistent, but also gave her space when she asked for it.

And there's a fake pregnancy scare in this book (it's not her positive test, but he thinks it is), and I have never seen a sweeter or swoonier reaction from an MMC, and I devour surprise pregnancy books like it's my job. He set the standard for MMCs reacting to surprise pregnancies.

[Red Panda Reads]

Did Not Finish.

I just cannot get behind the premise and on page 73, have decided to bench this book.

Ryker getting deported right before the playoffs has the entire franchise rattled- this, shared in the first minute of reading this book, a recall from book four, is not realistic. The NHL, would take care of this for him. He does not need to worry about this on his own, which likely makes book four a sham.

His tattoos creep up his neck slightly past his shirt-there are no tattoos on Slade in the picture on the book cover. This is a common literary error, though should be easy to match the character picture to their description.

Why does Penelope use the showers in the Hawkeyes locker room? She is not a player. This is definitely coaches daughter privilege. As is using the ice rink. At least use the visitor's locker room.

If a printer/copier/scanner room has a door that locks one inside if shut, why does it have a a door at all? Just remove it.

Threatening guys who bet on who could sleep with Penelope on the first date prevented her from having a skating partner for the Olympic trials? Magic eight ball says this is stupid.
(1) Slade would have just told her about the bets and (2) Penelope would have used a different practice space, had a partner come from out of town, or moved to a place where Slade had not threatened anyone. This is not on him. This is her life and her responsibility.

"...I thought you were up for the challenge..." “I am, sir, and I’m up for the task.” Slade's response is saying the same thing twice. It sounds weird. I am (up for the challenge) and (the task). They are one and the same.

"...Penelope Roberts is the unofficial little sister of this league..." The entire league? No way. Maybe just of the team.

Grammatical corrections (in parenthesis):
I was hoping I would find out the (that) under that layer of...
...didn't feel the say (same)...

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75⭐️
3🌶️

“Dirty Score” follows beloved Hawkeyes GM’s daughter, Penelope Roberts, and enemy to lovers interest Slade Matthews. The two have history with one another after attending college together before Slade was drafted to the Hawkeyes’ farm team. Penelope is a former figure skater with potential to go to the Olympics was destroyed by Slade. He tries to win her back for this mistake and has one thing on his side: Win, a pen pal that Penelope used to tutor virtually when in college.

There’s definitely some spice in here, a common characteristic for Kenna King with three different scenes. Boy does she know how to write a spicy scene. Due to the trope of third act breakup, I deducted 1 ⭐️ although this is a common trope for Kenna King. One thing I had a problem with that dropped the score another .25 ⭐️ is the grammatical and editing errors. Words randomly plural that didn’t need to be, quotation marks not used and confusion with whether the text is a part of the conversation.


Overall, another good book in the Hawkeyes series and I’m ready for the next one!

[Rose Joie ☀️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially thought this was a second chance romance book but it’s really not. It was more like Slade and Pen get a second chance at their missed chance four years ago.

Slade won me over when he waited for Pen. Like, he actually, truly waited for his chance not even knowing when that will be! He accepted a suggestion from his coach - Pen’s dad, to go to the farm team to Canada to actually accept his mistakes and waited patiently for remdemption.

Like, if that didn’t have your knickers in a twist! It was swoony with the right amount of spice!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dirty Score by Kenna King is a second chance romance (he loves her, but she hates him) between a hockey player and figure skater/daughter of a hockey coach. Four years after graduating from college, Penelope and Slade are reunited and sparks fly.

Slade Matthews and Penelope Roberts knew each other in college. Slade played for the college hockey team that was coached by Penelope's dad. He wasn't allowed to date Penelope in college, even though he wanted to, because her dad, his coach, wouldn't let anyone near his daughter. Now, Sam Roberts is the GM of the Hawkeyes, a professional hockey team, where Slade has just been brought in from the farm team to replace a key player who's been deported and help the team make the playoffs.

Slade is super talented but has been on the farm team for four years instead of the NHL because he did something that threatened Penelope's figure skating career. Sam sent him there after college as a punishment for what he did to his daughter. From Slade's perspective, he was just protecting her, but he never told her or her father that. So, now he's back, ready to prove himself and win over Penelope, or at least win her forgiveness.

Penelope retired from figure skating after college and is now working as her dad's administrative assistant, which means she runs into Slade all the time. She hates him for how he ruined her career, but, of course, she can't help but be attracted to him too. For his part, Slade will do anything to convince Penelope to forgive him.

Truthfully, Slade is hard to dislike. He's clearly devoted to her and tries so hard. He does the cutest things to draw Penelope closer to him, including coming up with a roundabout way to connect with her.

Penelope is likeable too, as are her girlfriends, who have each been the main character in previous Hawkeye series books.

There's a lot I liked about this novel: the sex, the chemistry, the friendships, and the hockey. But there are a couple of things that make this book a typical romance.

One. It's repetitive. How many times does Slade have to explain their history? I don't know, but he explained it a lot. When guys over explain things, they seem a little dumb. That's what happened here. He didn't come off stupid, though, just a little dumb - at times.

Two. He's kind of typical. He's gorgeous, which is fine. He's also super wealthy, which is also fine, but still a little bit typical. He's a trust fund kid, but - you can see it coming - the money doesn't mean anything to him. He's humble. Except for the fact that he's also a professional hockey player with a huge income.

At times, he would kind of drone on and on about his parents' money. It was kind of blah, blah, blah, and it got on my nerves. I mean, how humble is someone really when they can't stop talking about money? For the most part, though, Slade was likeable.

However, the way that Slade gets along so much better with Sam than his own father to the point of seeming to love him almost as much as he loves Penelope was nice. I also liked the relationships with the guys and the brief descriptions of hockey games.

Overall, Dirty Score is a good romance with just the right amount of sex - not too much but just enough - as well as great chemistry and solid friendships. There are also noteworthy side characters. This book, however, does get repetitive at times.