The Score by Elle Kennedy — The Most Fun Couple in the Off Campus Series? 

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“Because you also look at him like he hung the moon. And I get the sense he feels the same about you.”

If you’ve been following along with my journey through the Off Campus series, then you already know I absolutely adored Garrett and Hannah in The Deal and had a great time with Logan and Grace in The Mistake.

Going into The Score, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from Dean Di Laurentis. Up until now, he’d mostly been the rich, charming hockey player with an endless rotation of hookups and a permanent grin plastered across his face. Fun? Absolutely. Relationship material? I wasn’t convinced.

Then Elle Kennedy paired him with Allie Hayes.

And somehow… it just worked.

Maybe a little too well, because Dean and Allie are now sitting right beside Garrett and Hannah as my favorite couple in the series.

Quick Summary

He knows how to score, on and off the ice…

Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn’t have the first clue about what she’s going to do after college. To make matters worse, she’s nursing a broken heart thanks to the end of her longtime relationship.

Wild rebound sex is definitely not the solution to her problems, but gorgeous hockey star Dean Di Laurentis is impossible to resist. Just once, though, because even if her future is uncertain, it sure as heck won’t include the king of one-night stands.

It’ll take more than flashy moves to win her over…

Dean always gets what he wants. Girls, grades, girls, recognition, girls…he’s a ladies man, all right, and he’s yet to meet a woman who’s immune to his charms. Until Allie. For one night, the feisty blonde rocked his entire world—and now she wants to be friends? Nope. It’s not over until he says it’s over.

Dean is in full-on pursuit, but when life-rocking changes strike, he starts to wonder if maybe it’s time to stop focusing on scoring…and shoot for love.

Goodreads // Storygraph

What I Loved

The chemistry between Dean and Allie absolutely carried this book.

Allie is such a fun heroine. She’s confident, outspoken, a little chaotic, and has just enough sass to keep Dean on his toes. 

Instead of Dean overwhelming her personality, they challenge each other in a way that feels effortless. Their banter is easily the funniest of the series so far, and I found myself smiling through so many of their scenes together.

I also appreciated that Allie’s ex adds genuine tension without turning the story into a love triangle. It’s less about choosing between two people and more about figuring out who she is after that relationship ends, which felt much more believable.

There’s also one particular Garrett Graham moment involving Sean that absolutely had me cheering. I’ll keep this spoiler-free, but if you’ve already read the book… you know exactly what scene I’m talking about.

One thing I’ve consistently appreciated throughout this series is how every book adds depth to characters we thought we already knew.

Dean could have easily stayed the stereotypical rich, cocky playboy. Instead, we get a surprising amount of vulnerability beneath all the confidence. 

Learning more about his past made him far more layered than I expected.

The same goes for Allie. I especially loved seeing more of her relationship with her father. His protectiveness could have easily become overbearing, but instead it highlighted just how much they genuinely care about one another.

I did miss Hannah and Garrett a little. I always enjoy seeing previous couples pop back in, and while they do appear, I selfishly wanted even more of them.

What Wasn’t My Favorite

The biggest hurdle for me was actually how Dean and Allie’s relationship begins.

Without spoiling anything, it wasn’t my favorite setup. Once the story found its footing, I was completely invested, but I wasn’t sold on how they initially became involved.

The spice also started to feel a little excessive at times. It’s definitely better balanced than Logan and Grace’s story—which leaned much heavier into the physical relationship early on—but there were still moments where I found myself wishing we’d spend a little more time developing the emotional side instead.

There’s also a major emotional event that impacts the entire friend group, and while I understand why it was included, I wasn’t thrilled with how much it complicated Dean and Allie’s relationship afterward.

I couldn’t help thinking that if Dean had simply been more honest and vulnerable earlier, a lot of that additional heartbreak could have been avoided.

That said… I also recognize that’s where a lot of Dean’s character growth comes from. His emotional walls are part of who he is, and watching him slowly dismantle them is really the point of his story. So while parts of that arc felt a little drawn out, I ultimately think it paid off.

Vibe Check

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance, Hockey Romance

Mood: Funny, flirty, emotional, surprisingly heartfelt

Read if you love: Friends-to-lovers energy, witty banter, commitment-phobic MMCs, college romance, found family, hockey players who accidentally catch feelings

My Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 stars

Spice Meter: 3.5 chili peppers out of 5 chili peppers

Would I Recommend It?

Absolutely.

The first three books in the Off Campus series had me in an absolute chokehold, and The Score might honestly be my favorite so far.

If you’ve already read Garrett’s and Logan’s books, there’s no reason to stop now. Dean surprised me in the best possible way, and Allie quickly became one of my favorite heroines in the series.

What really elevated this book for me was that the conflict didn’t wrap itself up overnight. Dean and Allie actually had things they needed to work through together.

Compared to some of the quicker resolutions in the previous books, this relationship felt like it had a little more room to breathe and evolve.

Final Thoughts

I wasn’t expecting Dean Di Laurentis to win me over quite this much.

Sure, he’s still funny, cocky, and ridiculously charming, but The Score finally lets us see what’s underneath all of that swagger. 

Pairing him with someone like Allie—who refuses to be intimidated by him and challenges him every step of the way—ended up creating one of my favorite romances in the series.

And yes…

…Winston.

If you know, you know.

Now I’m onto Tucker’s story, even if I know I’m about to revisit part of this timeline from a different perspective. I’m curious to see how that changes my opinion of the events that overlap.

Have you read The Score? Did Dean and Allie become one of your favorite Off Campus couples too, or are Garrett and Hannah still holding onto the top spot?

Review for The Deal // Review for The Mistake