Maybe I Can Fix Him...
Maybe I can Fix Him…
by Charlotte Brandman
As a lesbian, I haven’t had much experience with “fuck-boys.” But, my two best friends go to two of the top f-boy-generating colleges in the nation— aka, USC and UCLA. So, when I picked up Elle Kennedy’s The Score, the third book in the Off-Campus series, I knew my friends would get a kick of how familiar Dean Heyward Di-Laurentis is to the boys they have to ward off in the frat houses.
In The Deal and The Mistake, the two previous books in the series (featuring Garret Graham and John Logan), Dean is never alone. Ever. There’s always a girl on his arm/leg/penis, who’s kissing his neck and clinging to his hockey biceps. Reading it gives you a pretty good idea of the guy Dean is— the ultimate sleazeball, fuck-boy who’s addicted to sex and attention. So when Allie Hayes (Dean’s roommate’s girlfriend’s best friend– whoof, that was a mouthful) has to spend the night alone in the same house as Dean (to escape her evil ex Sean), Hannah’s only warning is to not hook up with Dean. But, after Dean breaks out the tequila, all bets are off. So, what did Allie do?
She gave Dean the best sex of his life… and never called him back.
Allie is different from the girls Dean usually sleeps with. She speaks her mind, she’s free-spirited, and – my personal favorite – she doesn’t like Dean. Like, at all. Dean texts Allie for an entire week, begging her to hook up with him again. But Allie, like many young women, feels so guilty about having casual sex that – no matter how good it was – she can’t fathom hooking up with Dean again. That is until she realizes she can’t masturbate without thinking of him and would much rather have the real thing rather than just her pink dildo named Winston. Yes, she names her sex toys and I think every respectable person should.
Allie and Dean’s sex life is explosive. Elle Kennedy knocked the smut out of the park with this book. There’s public sex, kinky sex, many, many, many orgasms, and Allie is a badass in bed. What more could you want from a book? Plus, it has my favorite trope: taming the fuck-boy.
Getting Dean to commit to a relationship seemed like an impossible task. One that Allie didn’t even attempt to take on. She was okay with incredibly satisfying, casual sex. Until her ex-boyfriend Sean shows up at her apartment door, screaming at her and threatening her to let him in. Hannah and Garrett are over at the time and berate Sean to leave but Allie knows that he won’t give it up until she talks to him. Sean finds out that Allie’s been sleeping with Dean and calls Allie a “disease-ridden whore.”
What is this, Sean? The 1500s? Allie doesn’t have the Bubonic Plague and she and Dean have safe, protected sex. Get out of here with your slut shaming, dude.
Although, when Allie breaks down and Hannah comes to her rescue, the only person Allie wants to see is Dean. Nobody knows that Allie and Dean are hooking up so Hannah is flabbergasted that Allie wants Hannah to call Dean. But, Hannah does, and Dean bursts through Allie’s door, instantly scooping her up in his hockey biceps and cuddling her to sleep. But not before confessing that he wants to be with her, not just have sex. And that, my friends, is how Allie tamed the biggest slut at Briar University. By being… a hot, nice girl? I know, it’s unrealistic, but it’s my favorite trope, so leave me alone.
Plus, he falls first. That’s right folks, Dean has a heart. What a pleasant surprise.
On the fan-favorite “Enemies to Readers” Sex-O-Meter scale, The Score gets three out of five stars. It was deliciously smutty, just how I like my books.
Cheers to fixing abhorrent men!
See you next read,
Charlotte
Photograph: Pinterest