Orion Broderick was on his way to being a top-tier famous soccer player, until his sexuality was outed by an aspiring writer.

Des Cleary, the writer who outed Orion, has sacrificed his dream career as penance.

Years later, Des is given an assignment that requires finding and recruiting Orion. Des and Orion are forced to confront their past face to face, when a snow storm comes blowing through and traps them in a cabin. They must decide if it’s worth living in the past or if everything truly happened for a reason and they can move on.

This is a closed-door MM romcom, written from a single POV. Overall the story was nice - I enjoyed Des and all of the inner dialogue. He was quirky, honest, and a bit of a mess which added to his charm. At times, the inner dialogue lasted a bit too long that I forgot what was actually happening. I also didn’t really feel a connection between Des and Orion. Their relationship felt a little forced since I never felt closure from their situation years ago. I also didn’t get a sense of Orion’s personality which may just be a part of a single POV story, but was difficult to root for him

I loved this cozy MM romcom so much! It was funny and soft and charming and sweet and just perfect. I loved the characters and the settings and sports!!! What more could you want?

I really enjoyed this book! For me it was the perfect pace and kept me interested the whole time! Loved alllllll the characters. Thanks Netgalley and to the publisher.

Settle the Score by Kris Ripper was a great forced proximity MM rom-com. Des ruined Orion’s career years ago, and Orion has since been a bit reclusive. Des is tasked with getting Orion to act as a spokesperson for a campaign to get LGBTQ kids into sports. While attempting to talk Orion into it, they get snowed in.

I loved the LGBTQ rep and the banter was so good. Des’ first-person POV was really insightful and I ended up liking his character more than I anticipated! It sucked me in, for sure!

4.5, thank you for the arc! this was hilarious. i loved the entire plot and i related so much to des and how he seemed to do the most awkward things at the worst times. i also love the trope of big burly man hiding in the woods (but make it gay!) this hit many marks for me and i will be reading more by this author!

Settle The Score by Kris Ripper embodies some of my favorite tropes- enemies to lovers & forced proximity. This book made me want to snuggle up & ready under a warm blanket with hot cocoa- definitely a cozy read. I loved the characters and it was such a good story. Currently checking out all the books by Kris Ripper- you should too!!

Thank you NetGalley & Montlake for the ARC copy of this book.

Settle the Score is a real treat. A fun take on the forced proximity and enemies to lovers tropes, Kris Ripper's newest novel is about Des, a journalist who's languishing doing PR, and Orion, a former pro soccer player who's hiding from the world in a secluded cabin in the California mountains. On what's supposed to be a day trip to find Orion and offer him a campaign deal, Des gets caught in a snow storm and has to hole up with Orion at his cabin. The catch here is that the reason Orion no longer plays soccer professionally is because he was non-consensually outed by a journalist and was effectively ousted by the sport; the journalist who outed Orion is, you guessed it, Des.

Honestly, this felt like a really risky premise to me during the first few chapters of the book, and I had no idea how Ripper was going to get these two messes together. But ze did it. Well, it worked for me, anyway. This seems like a real YMMV situation, though. Like, Des made a huge mistake -- HUGE, the fallout of which pretty much ruined Orion's life. But, these characters are also really sweet together, and I believed their emotional connection and sexual attraction.

The writing was great, the characters were great (Des isn't necessarily likable, but he's really lovable), and the story was really engaging. Loved it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This is an enjoyable, very readable romance. The (virtual) pages just keep turning, drawing you further into the story.

I prefer my romances unsugared. They should have some measure of happy ending but still retain at least one foot in the real world.

Is that possible? Yes, and Kris RIpper achieves it here. Zir story comes with a classic romance arc (with added comedy and pets), but also references housing insecurity, pink washing, queer rights, and the overriding need (in the US, at least) to get a job, almost any job, with health benefits. Des and Orion should make you smile, and maybe shake your head a few times.

If your knowledge of Ripper's writing comes from the Scientific Method Universe series (like me), this novel is different. Not bad different - just another equally enjoyable aspect of zir writing.

My only warning might be to tea drinkers of a delicate disposition. There are multiple scenes involving out-of-date tea bags which are rebrewed. Oh, and a microwave.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an E-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved everything about this swoony enemies-to-lovers, snowed-in romance. I sat down to read a few chapters and suddenly realized I was over half way through with the book and probably needed to go to bed. I inhaled the rest.

Des is a former journalist, emphasis on "former", since he quit writing soon after ruining the life of a super star soccer player by outing him in an ill-advised attempt to encourage soccer to recognize its queer players. Orion is a former soccer star, emphasis on "former", since he was asked to resign due to the scandal following his forced outing. Needless to say Orion hates Des, and Des does not want to confront Orion. Ever. But when his boss sends him off to do just that, in order to convince Orion to join a worthy cause, Des doesn't expect any miracles. He hopes he can escape with his dignity in tact. But fate, and rom-com plot goodness, have other plans. A snow storm buries the two in a remote cabin where they have nothing but time to pick at each other and maybe realize they aren't the enemies they've always believed.

The way I related to Des and the many mistakes he made along the way. There was a scene where he frantically attempts to dig himself out, only to find more snow in the forecast, and I stg I lived that exact scene one time--totally different circumstances--but I could viscerally feel every bead of snow-shoveling sweat and panic. The humor in this was perfection, and the romance, while no big surprise considering the genre, even factoring in relative insta-lust, snuck up on me with great big butterflies in my stomach. There are just so many aw moments (and a dog) that had me invested. I needed the HEA. And again, despite the insta-lust built into the framework, the HEA is hard earned.

There've been some strong contenders already this year for my favorite, but Settle the Score easily moves into the lead because it had all the butter, comfort, humor, sexy times, and sweetness packed into a compelling premise. I'll be re-reading this when it releases later this year.

Oh man. So on the one hand, this book was 5 stars all the way - Kris Ripper (one of my favorite authors, who I am pretty sure is close to the same age as me) wrote the queer version of the 90s rom coms I grew up adoring and it was TOTALLY HEALING, GOSH. But on the other hand, the story beats of the rom coms of the 90s feel even more off to my little ace heart now that I have the words to express why. Like, it has nothing to do with the character motivations or the chemistry of the characters (although I DID spend the first half of the book a little stressed out about Orion's arc before I realized where the story was going with Des) but I just apparently will always want a bit more space for the romance to breathe before they have sex and fall in love! But srsly, if you're not an ace weirdo like me and ALSO loved Never Been Kissed as a teen, do yourself a favor and GET THIS BOOK.

(Side note just for the Netgalley review - I don't know if I'm just a weirdo who reads too much news, but every time I saw Des's new boss referred to as MBS, all I could think of was the dictator of Saudi Arabia? Which. Uh. If there's some time to edit their name so that their initials don't spell that, I GENUINELY would recommend it, but I'll be deleting this part from my GoodReads review, because I don't want to poison the well if not everything has that association.)

4.5 stars

CW: suicidal ideation

I am SO happy to have a new Kris Ripper book to read! And did I ever devour this.

While it's not my favourite Ripper book, it is still so, so good. It's incredibly readable and I loved both of the characters. Plus, I think this is the first book I've read that has a character names Orion in it??? (that may be the name of one of my children, so I'm a bit biased)

Going into the book, I wasn't really sure about the premise; how could anything happen between a former reporter who publicly outed the then star soccer/football player? But, it worked. Ripper made me believe it, and in a totally real way, too. Des and Orion both struggled with their past and their current feelings for each other and how to deal with all of that. While maybe not entirely realistic, it felt real enough to me and I totally bought it.

I am also a huge sucker for forced proximity as a trope, which is basically all this book is. Well, the majority of it, anyway. Des ends up trapped at Orion's secluded cottage after a freak snow storm in April. I think that everything that happened while they were forced to share a space was realistic and something that could actually happen. Maybe finding a limping, nearly blind dog in the middle of a snow storm is a bit less likely, but I don't care, it worked for me. Rescuing a stray dog as a plot device to bring the two characters together 100% worked for me.

I'll say it again, I am SO happy to have a new Kris Ripper to read and I can't wait to have the actual book in my hands so that I can add it to my ever-growing mountain of KR books.

Aspiring journalist Des made a very bad decision, which affected aspiring footballer Orion’s life very negatively. Two ruined careers and a few years later, a snowstorm gets them stuck in a cabin all alone (until a dog — whose name is a hot debate — joins the party).

This was a sweet story, and I enjoyed reading it! Mostly it takes place in the cabin, and whilst there was turbulence in the relationship at times, we knew they were going to be fine, so it felt quite safe and relaxing.

Okay, I decided to leave this one early … I requested it on a whim because I had liked some (not all) of Kris Ripper’s books before and even more because of the premise. I only saw the text ‘outed soccer player,’ and I pressed on request.

I have to admit that I already read a review from a friend and, therefore, suddenly got scared to read this one. They didn’t like it, and when I started reading, I constantly thought of their review. And, well … I immediately disliked Des.

So please don’t mind my review; just check out other positive ones.

I love Kris Ripper, but this is an oof for me.

Des' brain could probably use an editor. But most importantly the romance here does not feel earned. There is NO REASON for Orion to forgive Des. And there's no indication in the text that he actually does. And yet Orion inexplicably goes for it. Why?

This story is beautiful. The pacing, plot, characters; they’re all fantastic. The struggles are real and the story is heart wrenchingly addictive. I’m so in love with it.

4.5 ⭐️

My head says 3.5 - 4 ⭐️ but my heart says 4.5 - 5 ⭐️, and I would never disobey Roxette.

Kris Ripper and sports romance are two of my favorite things, so it's no surprise that I loved this. (Although this is less sports romance in the jumpy-runny-skatey-kicky sense than in the backdrop/ context sense.) BUT: I also suspect that this is one of those books that will not work for everyone, and that some people will bounce off hard. And my 5-starring it does not imply that there aren't flaws -- there are. Overall, though, this book sucked me in from the first page and didn't let me go until I finished at 1:30 in the morning; and Des is such a flawed, funny, ultimately sympathetic narrator that I couldn't help but root for him and Orion.

This book is based on a huge ask, which we get hit with in the first chapter; no hidden surprises here. Des, our (1st person) POV character, is tasked by his boss/ fairy gaymother -- the only other queer in his corporate branding firm, where he is an entry-level grudge -- to recruit Orion, a retired and reclusive professional soccer player, to be the spokesperson for a client's campaign to encourage LGBTQI+ kids in sports. Great, right? The catch: Orion's retirement and reclusivity was caused by an article Des wrote as a college journalist that intentionally outed him -- an article that Des regretted immediately after it published, and which was the last thing he's ever written.

The ask, then, is whether the reader can see a path to forgiveness and redemption for Des. And if you don't think you can, then I would advise giving this one a miss. Des's motives for writing the article -- which we never get the text of, but which we are made to understand is more broadly about the challenges of being queer in professional sports, but which includes a non-consensually taken/ published photo of Orion kissing his then-boyfriend -- are muddled even in his own articulation. Ambition, idealism, and an almost unbelievable naivete all factor in; he somehow convinced himself that he was doing Orion a service, only to discover that his actions looked more like self-righteousness, malice, and jealousy. In shame and horror at his own blindness and stupidity, he didn't just abandon journalism, but also isolated himself from his friends (many of whom, we get in an aside, were dumbfounded and dismayed by his actions, which is a nice, realistic touch). Des is a character who caused irrevocable harm to someone else, and who has been living with that ever since. His reasons, at the time, may have been genuine -- if, again, head-shakingly naive -- but he has grown up enough to realize that this doesn't really matter. Good reasons or bad, he still ruined someone's life.

So, yeah, a big ask for the reader in terms of rooting for Des and also believing in the eventual romance. Much like (past) bully romances (a la Alexis Hall's Pansies or Gregory Ashe's Hazard and Somerset series), this lives or dies on whether the reader can buy into at-fault character's redemption.

(While I'm at it, the premise is also absurd. Why would Vix, Des's fairy gaymother, think he was the right one to try to convince Orion to join this campaign? She knows about the article; the rational response would be to send a straight, cross your fingers, and hope Des and Orion never cross paths. And given Orion's notorious reclusivity -- Des is given the name of a town and Cold Snap Cabin, but no phone number or address -- why does Vix think that springing the guy who ruined his life on Orion with no warning would be an ethical thing to do? We do eventually get a kind of reason for Vix's thinking (which involves collusion with one of Orion's friends), but let's face it: this premise makes no logical sense. File it under Romance Reasons and move on.)

So given that we have a ridiculous premise and a huge ask, how did this work so well? It boils down to Des, who is a likeable, funny, smart (but also incompetent in a "city slicker in the mountains" kind of way) character who genuinely wants to make amends (and, he admits to himself, to explain his actions) but also knows that he is not entitled to forgiveness. It also boils down to Ripper's clever, tropetastic setup: meet-cute (no, really: Des and Orion have a very flirty, adorable first encounter before Des springs the campaign on him and Orion realizes who he is), snowed in/ forced proximity, sickbed (caffeine withdrawal is a thing, man), and ONE-EYED DOG RESCUE!! Like all great romances, Settle the Score both leans hard into and transcends these tropes to bring us an emotionally resonant exploration of what it means to make amends, and the difference between things that can be forgiven and things that can only be accepted. And whether making a mistake -- even a massive one -- precludes all possibilities for redemption, (self-)forgiveness, liking, and love.

No spoilers here, but suffice to say that a large chunk of the book is dedicated to Des and Orion being snowed in -- with no phone or internet service -- at Orion's cabin, during which their relationship evolves from Orion's extreme (understandable) antipathy to a kind of grudging cooperation to tentative flirtation to (fade-to-black) intimacy; while the latter chunk explores the aftermath, both professional and personal, once the cabin bubble is broken. Orion's journey from hatred to liking (loving?) Des during their six enforced days together is not entirely explicable (and here is one of those things that I wish was done better, but which is difficult in the context of 1st person POV); I can very well see that some readers won't buy this switch, especially as Des himself is extremely sceptical that Orion could feel some for him other than detestation, so we're getting Des's disbelief added on to our own. For me, it worked as a combination of the initial attraction, Des's care and determination in rescuing the dog, Des's acceptance of Orion's feelings (after his initial attempts at apology and explanation, Des does not keep advocating for forgiveness), and Orion's discovery that Des gave up writing after the article; that is, that Des's actions show genuine remorse even if Orion doesn't want to hear self-serving excuses about his motives. Orion is also honest enough to admit that he wasn't happy living the closeted life he felt forced into. To be clear: he does not thank Des for "liberating" him from the closet, nor does he think that his past unhappiness justifies Des's actions. Orion is not out to absolve Des or wash away his sins. But some distance from his past life has enabled him to see all the ways he was sacrificing himself, and what that did to him; while meeting Des helps him realize that, just as his own story is complex, so to is his "enemy's", and that neither of them are served by living without nuance or compassion.

This is not a perfect book. For some people, this will be an absolute no -- and that's ok. Forced outing is abhorrent, and Ripper sets zirself a pretty hard task in making this a story people will want to read and believe in. And while I think it was smart to keep us in Des's head the whole time, this means that Orion remains somewhat elusive: we never really get his side of the story, whether it's the emotional journey during the time at the cabin, or the life-changing decision Orion makes for both of them (albeit with an out) in the aftermath. Like I said many thousand words ago when I started this review: my head recognizes the flaws. But I really loved this despite (because?) of them. Not just because of the gentle, self-deprecating humor, and the familiar fish-out-of-water feeling of being simultaneously very smart and very dumb. And not just because of Des's resilience and (belated) self-awareness. But also because the big ask prompted some real reflection over what it means to forgive. And to not forgive, but to still see some goodness in someone and acknowledge past harm while accepting the possibility of a different future. This is a generous, empathetic book about what we owe each other and ourselves, and understanding the difference between the two. Can't wait to re-read.

Read as part of the Trans Rights Readathon to spotlight books written by authors who are trans, genderqueer, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, and 2Spirit.

I got an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

STOP. Des is such a disaster, I can’t get over it. Everything he does is so dramatic it had me rolling. He’s so head over heels for Orion and he doesn’t even fully realize it. But if I’m being honest, Orion is head over heels for Des too.

Unfortunately, I found that the events moved to swiftly, especially by the latter half of this book. The first kiss came out of nowhere. I thought this was going to be a slow burn, and I was really enjoying the slow burn, until it wasn’t slow burn. Also, the miscommunication fight was so bad. It was probably one of the worst miscommunication fights I’ve ever read.

BUT! Don’t let this turn you off of this! It was super cute, super sweet, super adorable. I wanted more Orion and Des because of how cute they are!! And the way the book ended was just perfect to me.

This was a mess. A mostly entertaining mess, for sure, but a mess nonetheless. I picked this up because I've enjoyed some of Kris Ripper's other work a lot. And I did again really enjoy the writing, which was super fun. But I liked the actual romance a lot less.

I was afraid I'd have trouble rooting for the main character, considering he was the one who outed the love interest in the past, but I was hoping this would be adequately resolved. It isn't. I never felt like the main character truly redeemed himself, and he always centered himself in every (very sparse) conversation they had about it.

I did understand why the MC was attracted to the love interest, but never did it become clear to me what the love interest saw in our MC. Had this been dual POV, this would have been a real problem for the book, but as it is, it's easy to get distracted by the fun writing to actually consider if the romance holds up. The love interest goes from saying he "detests" the MC to kissing him over the span of a few days, when nothing has really seemed to change between them, which really confused me. The story kind of lost me there, and it lost me even more after the snowed-in-together situation ends and our MC goes back home. This part of the book took way too long and was way too boring to read.

This book was a treat. It's been too long since I read Kris Ripper—must fix that—and I'd forgotten how delightful zir writing is. This was a book I absolutely didn't have time to spend all day reading and yet did anyway.

There's plenty of OTT rom-com foolishness in this story, but underlying that is so much true emotion. I loved the growth and redemption and overall hopefulness, and I read most of the book with a foolish grin on my face. I can only hope this might be the start of a new series, as there were plenty of side characters I'd love to learn more about. Highly recommended!

My thanks to the publisher/NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

Des Cleary, once an inspiring investigative journalist, works for a marketing firm in LA. His decision to leave journalism for good during college was the result of the public outing he wrote in an article of a professional soccer star, Orion Broderick. Orion ended up losing his career, sponsorships, and his boyfriend. Now Des is tasked with bringing Orion back into the spotlight by teaming up with. a sports company for a Pride Campaign to help bring more LGBTQ+ kids to team sports. A surprise visit from Des to Orion's cabin leads to a forced proximity rom-com reckoning during a snowstorm that strands them together.

I enjoyed this novel immensely. This was my first novel by Kris Ripper and went in with no expectations. I really felt the writing style fit Des as a character. This book had. a singular first-person POV, Des, and it was a definite peak into his rambling thoughts, insecurities, and ultimately his triumphs. Although I do read more dual POV books, having the POV of just Des made the story. I didn't feel that anything was missing from the story--mainly a more thorough examination of Orion's response to the article at time of publication--because, yes, the story was about their romance, but it was fueled by Des's story and growth as a person. I found myself smiling through the comedic moments at the cabin and appreciated that some time needed to occur before this couple could get their HEA.

I will gladly pick up another of Kris's books. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this story.