Settle the Score has all the tropey goodness anyone could want: enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, snowed-in, only one bed (but also a couch), cute dog. Kris Ripper’s writing is great: warm, relatable. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get past the premise.

Des outed Orion, a pro soccer star, costing Orion his career and causing him to basically withdraw from society. The outing wasn’t malicious, but Des’s faith in sports and sports fans to support a gay player was definitely misplaced. I just couldn’t see a way for Orion to move past his past with Des, and that’s absolutely on me. The book was written in single POV and not getting any insight from Orion made the enemies to lovers switch even harder to believe.

2 stars for the story, 4 stars for the writing

Thanks to NetGalley and Montlake for an eARC. Opinions are my own.

There's no such thing as an intimate relationship in which the parties don't hurt each other sometimes, but when Person A meets Person B for the first time, they usually don't need to dig themselves out of a hole as deep as Des Cleary is in with respect to Orion Broderick: Orion used to be a star soccer player, whose career went up in smoke when Des, then a student journalist, outed him. Des had pretty good motives, but motives don't really matter when you're playing pinball with someone else's life, do they.

Orion now lives in an isolated cabin in the California mountains -- he's not a hermit, but he's definitely keeping the world at arm's length. Too bad a client of the PR agency Des works for wants to start an inclusive campaign encouraging young people to play soccer, and too bad Des's boss thinks he's just the man for the job of persuading Orion to be the face of that campaign.

Fortunately for the relationship between Des and Orion, Des promptly gets snowed in at the aforementioned isolated cabin.

The trickiest part of a romance between people one of whom has hurt the other badly before they even met is, of course, plausibly undoing the injured party's enmity enough to let them see and engage with the injurer's good qualities. Extended snowing-in is a good setup for this, because if someone isn't actively trying to hurt you in the moment, in fact is doing his best to behave helpfully and is also remorseful, it's hard to keep up Defcon 1 hostility for days on end.

Kris Ripper handles the growth of Des and Orion's relationship really well, I think. Orion has had a terrible time of it, but he has made a life for himself. Though he keeps people at arm's length, the residents of his small town care about him and look out for him. Plus, as much as he initially detests Des, the proposed campaign will give Orion a way back into soccer, though not as a player on a pro team. So although Orion is very not interested in Des's motives for the outing, or even in his apologies, he does come to see Des as a decent person who screwed up very badly, out of a combination of naive optimism and self-righteousness, not as a villain. KR does something nifty with the changes in how Orion sees Des: [spoilers redacted].

Funny, serious, complicated, a pleasure. Thanks to Montlake and NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved this - I really had no choice but to keep reading until I finished and avoid the list of tasks I had planned for this morning 😊 This had all the fun angst and tension I want from the enemies to lovers/snowed in tropey plot, but also had real heart and sadness and deeper feelings. Highly recommend!
Arc received from NetGalley

3* Lacked chemistry and heat, but had 2 decent leads.

This is well written, and a tale about two guys who have distant history, with Des having outed Orion, ruining his sports career, which as a result had Des vowing never to write again. Ish. And then Des is tasked with finding the reclusive Orion to try and tie him into a deal of sorts.

Whilst it's well written and with good rainbow representation, and decent people who look out for each other, the storyline about getting snowed in in a cabin, combined with the lack of chemistry and heat made this a slog to get through. I couldn't see the leads together or believe in them, sadly.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Montlake for my reading pleasure.
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Settle the Score by Kris Ripper—HUGE DUCKING FAN of Kris Ripper’s voice. Seriously. Voice-driven readers will LOVE to bury their beaks in Settle The Score. The story: Back when Des Cleary was a young reporter, he made the duck-shaped mistake of outing soccer superstar Orion Broderick, thereby ruining Orion’s career. At the time, Des naively believed this decision would make the world a better place. This led Des to “Guilt City.” (Where, notoriously, there are ZERO ducks.) Now, years later, the marketing agency where Des works is sending him to recruit Orion Broderick for a Pride campaign. Super-ducking awkward! Anyway, add in a fierce snowstorm, some forced proximity, and an enemies-to-lovers vibe, and you’ve got yourself a super-ducking compelling yarn told in a RIVETING voice. Settle The Score also contains a host of voicey, vibrant dialogue, chemistry galore, moving emotional deep dives, characters who feel real, and a small, disabled dog who will melt your duck-shaped heart. Ripper is FUNNY but also goes DEEP. We LOVE that. And if you’re a soccer fan, look no further. Your ball’s in Ripper’s lily pad.

Pre-order/buy Settle The Score from: Amazon, B&N, Audible.

Kris Ripper's "Settle the Score" is a delightful yet complex rom-com that takes forced proximity to another level. The story centeres on Des Cleary, an ex-journalist who nuked his career by outing soccer star Orion Broderick. Now, Des is stuck in a dead-end marketing job, and guess what? He has to recruit Orion for a Pride campaign. Ouch.

Des heads to Orion's secluded mountain cabin with a plan to keep things strictly business. But Mother Nature, ever the meddler, has other ideas, trapping them together in a snowstorm. As they dig up old wounds and buried feelings, both men are forced to confront their past mistakes and the possibility of a future neither expected.

Ripper does an excellent job of balancing the heavy stuff with snappy dialogue and irreverent humour. Des and Orion are far from perfect, which makes their journey toward understanding and forgiveness all the more engaging. It’s not just a story about romance; it’s about redemption and the messiness of human connections.

For those who appreciate a romantic plot that doesn’t shy away from the messy, real aspects of relationships, "Settle the Score" is a perfect choice.

Settle the Score by Kris Ripper is an engaging enemies-to-lovers romance that will kept me hooked from start to finish.
The story follows Des, a former journalist, and Orion, a retired pro soccer player, who are forced into close quarters during a snowstorm. Their past is fraught with tension, but as they navigate their way through the storm, a genuine and believable romance blossoms. The characters are well-developed and relatable, and the plot is engaging with just the right amount of tension and humor. Ripper's writing is compelling, making this a perfect read for romance lovers.

Adored this novel. What I enjoyed most was the fact that the characters had to face each other and deal with previous issues they once had. clean slates usually help people move forward in many aspects in their live. And being snowed in with someone you've had a rocky relationship with can definitely make or break what you both could have gone forward. Des and Orion's fresh beginning after having to face one another and deal with the issues at hand made this read a great read with a great meaning for me.

I really wanted to love this one but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me.
I felt the story was a little hard to believe, and it didn’t hold my attention well.

There wasn’t as much romance as I would have liked. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was written in DUEL POV so we could see Orions thoughts and feelings as well.

I did however enjoy the Snowed in together scenes, they were cute.


💙Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC.💙

I thought it was great. Forced proximity in a cabin in a snowstorm gets me every time, and ultimately I found the romance arc to be genuinely believable. Throw in a cute dog and a character whose biggest concern in a storm is lack of caffeine, and I’m sold.

Des Cleary, the mess that you are… 

I feel like I need to state that off the bat, the main reason my rating of this book is as high as it is only related to my enjoyment of the author’s writing. That’s it. I’ve already written down a little note to myself to pick up more of zir’s books because I feel like I jived well with the writing — just not the story. 

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of sports romances, but this book feels… sports romance adjacent. We’re supposed to be rooting for our MC who made one of the worst decisions you can ever make as a human being — outing someone. While I can feel the remorse radiating from the MC, Des. It truly never felt like the conflict was properly resolved. This only made the romance between the MC and the love interest that he outed a bit uncomfortable and out of left field for me. I don’t understand what made Orion feel differently about Des, especially since the whole snowed-in experience between them was full of awkward silence, arguments, and tension. It truly felt like pulling teeth to get past that portion of the book. 

But, I don’t want to complain too much about this book because it’s clear that Kris Ripper put a lot of heart into it. I just don’t personally think this was the book for me, especially as a queer individual that was also forcibly outed in high school as an athlete. There is no redemption arc that I would’ve bought into.

In “Settle the Score” by Kris Ripper, former investigative reporter Des Cleary, who once ruined soccer star Orion Broderick’s career by exposing his relationship, is now tasked with recruiting Orion for an LGBTQI+ sports campaign. As Des finds Orion in a snowbound cabin, they confront their shared past and the impact of Des’s actions, discovering that time and circumstance have transformed them both, allowing for the possibility of redemption and new beginnings.

I’m not a big “enemies to lovers” fan, but this isn’t really enemies to lovers, it’s more “oh you hate me? Oh that’s cool. I hate me too.” Des is such an incredible character. He’s funny and smart and kind but also kind of a stubborn idiot about things. (It’s endearing.) And his character arc through this story, where he picks up the pieces of his life and works hard to build not just a good life, but the life he wants for himself is simply incredible and beautiful.

Orion is a grumpy little teddy bear who I adore. All the side characters here are fantastic, the pining and angst simply perfect. All in all, I stayed up too late finishing this and I don’t regret it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Montlake Publishing for a copy of this ebook in exchange for a review.

Kris Ripper is one of those authors whose books somehow always work for me. The characters are so well-drawn, and flawed, and relatable, and they always seem to stick in my mind.

While sports romances generally aren’t my thing, I would say Settle the Score is more sports-adjacent. The story centers on a retired pro soccer player and the reporter who had outed him years earlier, a true enemies to lovers premise (so much so that I was a tiny bit skeptical about how Ripper would pull it off).

All in all, I thought it was great. Forced proximity in a cabin in a snowstorm gets me every time, and ultimately I found the romance arc to be genuinely believable. Throw in a cute dog and a character whose biggest concern in a storm is lack of caffeine, and I’m sold.

I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite Ripper, but there’s a lot of competition.

Aaaaw. What a thoroughly enjoyable sport-adjacent story!

Cw: historical outing of a main character, suicidal ideation

Settle the score starts with the brave premise of one of the protagonists, Des, having done an awful thing to the other main character, Orion. Like in a real breach of trust, life and career and potentially safety messing way. Des is an aspiring journalist with ambitions about the world as it ought to be in his eyes - I.e. that no sports star should have to be closeted, though other hidden motivations are gradually revealed too - whose piece on Orion, a rising football (or soccer if you’re that way inclined) star kissing a boy outs Orion way before he is ready to consider anything of the sort. Long story short, both Des and Orion end up losing their dream careers and becoming slightly lost hermits in their own ways.

Des and Orion are thrown together again in a cabin up a snowy mountain forced proximity plot as Des is sent - seemingly, though an additional ulterior motive is at play here too but I won’t spoil that for you - to try to convince Orion to front an advertising campaign for an Althleisure brand, a new account Des will presumably write copy for. A surprise snow storm traps the two men in a less than ideal circumstance with shelter but uncertain access to food, electricity, a rescue mission, and no comms with the outside world.

So far so tasty. And the early part of the book is just as uncomfortable as you’d imagine, as Des and Orion try to tolerate each other’s presence and the elephant in the room that is their shared history. History that is really tricky to talk about and grapple with, especially given the clear mutual attraction. Both are obviously a bit of a mess - though we naturally get to know much more of Des’ inner dialogue as the POV character. I really resonated with his voice in all his insecurities and self blame and doubts. He’d done a bad but his immense regret about it was never in doubt. Orion was also a delight: a former sport star who seemed more interested in the common good than stardom. The focus here wasn’t on six packs and sweaty changing rooms, but being decent and hard working and kind and I was really really here for it. Ripper’s characterisation and dialogue between Des and Orion and with the supporting cast was a delight throughout: credible, emotive, funny, coherent and deliciously queer.

Des vocalises the topsy turvy building of their nascent relationship later on in the book from this premise of a big fuck up to speedily developing warm feelings and attraction in close forced proximity, all the way to love in the outside world. The life bits all need to be negotiated later. Given the bruisingly exposing and public nature of their paths crossing at the start of the story, I really appreciated the privacy Ripper gave zir main characters in their moments of intimacy.

This is clearly one of those stories where a lot of work needs to go into convincing the reader that this love story is credible. And for it to be credible, it kind of felt necessary that both characters get to work out stuff for themselves separately too. So, unavoidably, all good snowstorms must come to an end. I’m never a fan of love sorting things out and curing all ills, but Ripper navigated this tension quite beautifully acknowledging that sometimes it does take a bit of a nudge from someone who cares about us to get us on the right track. And at the same time nobody else can really be the entire solution for anyone. You still have to work out a way to tolerate living with yourself before you can even contemplate sharing that life with someone else. So brace for time apart. And trust that it’s needed. While the book ends in a satisfying work-in-progress place for the main couple, where Orion gets to control his own story and what he gives people access to, and Des finds his way back to writing and sport, not everything is of course sorted out and perfect. Like it never is in life.

ARC received with thanks from NetGalley/Montlake

This was a great book. I connected with the characters. I felt engrossed with the plot. I would read another book by this author.

Thanks to @netgalley and @krisripper for the ARC.
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What happens when you have to collaborate with the person whose career you've broken?
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This romance begins with this question.
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Des Cleary have to convince Orion Broderick, a former footballer, to participate in an advertising campaign encouraging young people from the LGBTQIA+ community to get into sports.
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Problem: When he was in college, Des published an article that ended Orion's career.

The story is told from Des point of view. He is an introspective character drown by his guilt and his anxieties. But very quickly, we realised how endearing he is, how as reader you want to support him and help him because of his doubts and because of his will to do well.
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Orion is great too. It is through Des's eyes that we will know more about him. Not having his point of view was not a problem at all, quite the contrary. This romance works because it's impossible to predict his actions. Seeing all the little changes in him, in contact with Des, were one of the highlight of this romance.
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This romance is a slow burn with a grumpyxsunshine couple and a forced proximity trope.
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It was really sweet. I loved how with little changes, the bond between the characters grew to become something more.
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It's the kind of romance that when it's over makes you smile, because the characters had the happy ending they deserved.
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I had a great time.

I really enjoyed the narrator's voice in this book. The main character was witty and fun, and following along on her journey was like listening to a friend tell a story. I love a small town romance, and this didn't disappoint.

"I was some flavor of terrible person. Not the worst type of terrible— I didn’t serial kill anyone or torture baby animals, and no one was going to make a true crime episode about how my sad childhood had made me a murderer— but being a milder brand of terrible still wasn’t great."

I can understand, why this book might be not for everyone, but I absolutely loved it. Imagine a character, who did something really awful - unintentionally ruined another person's life, but the writing is so good, so captivating that you can feel sympathy for him and you're rooting for him to find happiness. The story is told in first person and single POV, so the reader spends a lot of time in his head, and it's a messy business - insecurities, guilt, hopefulness, self-flagellation, but I didn't mind it at all. Add great banter, snowed-in trope, stray dog, opposites attract, small town, and you get a beautiful story about redemption and forgiveness. What did I miss? Just a little bit of Orion's POV. 4.5/5

Thank you for the ARC!

I can always appreciate an LGBTQ+ story but this one fell short for me. Maybe it's because I couldn't get over the fact that Des outed Orion and it felt to me like that never really did get resolved. This could also be why I couldn't really connect with Des and Orion as a couple, they just didn't really make sense to me.

Thank you for the opportunity to read!

Des Cleary wrote an article back in college essentially outing rising soccer star Orion Broderick. The guilt of sending Orion into obscurity after he was forced to retire causes Des to abandon his career as a writer as his own self punishment. Only two years later he is forced to face none other than the man he wronged to try and recruit him for a LGBTQI+ campaign for kids. When he finds Orion's secluded cabin in the mountains and his identity is revealed, before he has a chance to escape they end up snowed in together.

This was a contemporary MM romance with closed door low spice and enemies-to-lovers-ish elements. The bones of the story were cute but I would've loved more interaction between Orion and Des. It was a lot of Des' inner monologue and it sort of left me wanting.