Title: SCORE
Author: Victoria Denault
Series: San Francisco Thunder, #1
On Sale: May 9, 2017
Publisher: Forever
Blurb
He's used to winning, but now he's playing with his heart.
Jude Braddock. Hockey god. That's how everyone sees him now.
But when they were teenagers, Zoey knew him as the kid who didn't have enough
nerve to make a move on their one and only disastrous date. Seems he doesn't
have that problem anymore, though. According to the rumors, he's with a
different woman every night. After a rough divorce, the last thing Zoey needs
is more heartbreak. But Jude's cocky, playful attitude is mighty hard to
resist.
Jude knows he isn't built for long-term relationships. But
he's getting sick of women pounding on his door in the middle of the night
looking for a rematch. When Zoey comes back into his life, it's like fate has
given him a second chance. He'll do anything to make her happy again. Is this
what love looks like? He has no idea. All he knows for sure is that this time,
he's playing for keeps.
Review
**4.5 Stars**
I can always count on Victoria Denault to give me temporary hockey fix until
her next book comes out, Score did not disappoint but I'm craving more from
this new series. Jude and Ruby are one of my ew favorite couples Victoria has
given us. One thing I really loved about this was it was a hockey romance PLUS
second chance romance.
Jude is known as the Thunders hockey team play boy after a scandal that lands
him as the center of social media entertainment. What makes him even more of a
hassle for the PR of the team is, his sister is in the department and reminds
his daily of his screw up. When Jude decides he will let his sister continue to
hold their sorority convention at his house, he lands himself back in the
center of the Puck Bunny door bell dining session. The only good thing that
comes out of the sorority of his sisters is running into the one that got away,
the only female he can't ever seem to forget- Zoey. Is there a chance they can
finally get together? Will she be the one to change him to a one woman man or will
his past interfere and screw it all up?
Zoey's life is a disaster. Her soon to be ex husband is making her life
miserable, her living situation isn't ideal and she has to try and rebuild her
career. After a stop in a coffee shop one morning she runs into someone she
used to babysit in Maine, so what she is doing here in San Francisco, the
bigger question is her sexy as all get out brother Jude here? Can Jude help her
get out of her messy situation and help fix her broken heart? Or will his past
get in the way?
Everything about Jude and Zoey's story was sweet and it's what I needed.
Watching these two together was just what my hockey and second chance romance
loving heart needed. I loved watching them grow together and heal each other.
They were able to fill the void that the other person had and make them be
better. I seriously can't wait for more in this series. Ever book I book up by
Victoria becomes my new favorite and Score was no different.
Excerpt
Still staring at my blank phone screen, I stumble toward the
door and of course I walk straight into someone. Of course. Because to- day is
going to be shitty in every possible way. Luckily, I manage to avoid getting
chai latte on either of us; it barely spills over the lid and only dribbles
onto my hand.
“I’m so sorry!” I say at the exact same time she does, and I
look up to see a familiar face staring back, but I can’t place it.
She blinks azure eyes and then her whole face lights up.
“Zoey?
Zoey Quinlin? Oh my God!”
She’s hugging me before I realize
what’s happening. I wrap the hand not covered in latte around her back and
return the embrace. She pulls back, still holding my shoulders, and smiles.
“Holy crap! It’s been over ten years! Oh my God.” She pauses and glances around
before adding in a softer voice, “It’s Dixie. Dixie Braddock. You used to
babysit me at my family’s summer cottage in Maine. You were friends with my
brother, Jude.”
“Holy shit! Dixie Braddock?” I can’t believe it. The last
time I saw her she was thirteen. Wheat hair; pink, suntanned skin; freckles
across her nose and chronically scabbed-up knees from trying to keep up with
her older sisters and brother, who were all daredevils on their bikes and
skateboards and surfboards. Babysitting them—well, the girls, anyway—for the
two years I lived in Maine was a highlight of my summers. And so was seeing their
brother. Shit, I hadn’t thought of Jude Braddock in a while. I find myself
smiling now that I am.
“You live in San Fran?” she questions as she takes my elbow
and leads me over to the counter and hands me a napkin for my latte- soaked
hand.
“Yeah. Stayed local after college,” I explain as I put down
the latte and wipe my hand. “And you live here?”
She nods, her sleek blond bob moving like a curtain around
her face. She looks close to the tiny thing I babysat but much more refined and
beautiful now. I do the math: she’s only twenty-four, but she looks more put
together than any twenty-four-year-old I’ve known.
“Yeah. I went to school for sports media, then interned with
the San Francisco Thunder hockey team, and they hired me full- time this year.”
Her eyes dart around, and her voice drops again. “Jude plays for them, so I use
my mom’s last name, Wynn, so no one thinks he got me the job. He didn’t.”
“Jude is in San Francisco?” I don’t know why I felt the need
to say that with such breathless shock. I knew he made the NHL, but I had
thought he was playing in Milwaukee. That’s where he was last time I Googled
him, which was three years ago, before I married Adam.
“Yeah. Got traded a couple years ago,” Dixie explains. “So
how’s your family? Where’s your dad preaching now?”
“He’s retired. Mom and Dad are in Sacramento,” I explain.
“My brother, Morgan, is a teacher here in San Francisco.”
“Morgan!” She laughs and her cheeks turn a little pink.
“Sadie, Winnie and I had such a crush on your brother when we were little.
Remember we used to keep begging you to invite him over when you were watching
us?”
I nod and can’t help but smile back. Yeah, that memory
hasn’t faded. The Braddock girls wanted my brother to come over, but I never
invited him. Not because he was gay, which I already knew at that point, but
because if Morgan was around, he would tease me about gawking at Jude, which I
always did if he happened to come home before Mr. and Mrs. Braddock’s date
night ended.
Dixie glances at her phone in her hand, and I realize we
both must have been looking at our screens when we collided. She frowns. “I
have to go. I have a meeting at the arena in twenty.” She puts a hand on my arm
again. “But I would love to catch up with you, and I know Winnie and Sadie
would too. They’re going to be in town this weekend. Would you be able to do
brunch?”
“Yeah, I can do brunch,” I reply and am shocked at how
excited I am at her suggestion. I haven’t really done much of anything social
since the separation. I kind of lost touch with a lot of my friends after
marrying Adam and adopted his circle of friends. And they all promptly orphaned
me after the separation. I didn’t care much because I didn’t feel up to social
interaction, but suddenly this seems like a pleasant distraction from my reality.
The Braddock family was one of my favorite parts of my childhood.
“Amazing!” Dixie
almost squeals. “How about tomorrow.
Eleven?”
I nod. “Where?”
“You pick.”
“MKT?” I blurt out because it’s in my hotel and I’m too
flustered to think of anything else. To be honest, I don’t even know what they
serve for brunch.
“Great! Sadie loves that place, and she’s normally
impossible to please.” She hugs me again. “See you tomorrow! Winnie and Sadie
are going to be so excited!”
And then, before I can even lift my hand to wave, she’s back
out the door. She never even got a coffee, but she doesn’t seem to notice. I’m
more dumbfounded and confused than I was from the phone call with Minerva. The
Braddocks are here. Well, at least Jude and Dixie are here. In San Francisco.
Where I live. When the hell did that happen?
I look around the coffee shop to make sure there’s no one
else from my past lurking around. A teacher, a neighbor, another sister of an
old unconsummated love. Although Jude was my only unrequited love, but he did
have three sisters. Whom I will be having brunch with tomorrow. Crazy!
I slip out of Peet’s and concentrate on the clicking of my
heels as I make my way back over to my office. I finally take a sip of my
jostled latte. It’s barely warm but the caffeine still manages to clear my head
a little. Not enough that eagle-eye Marti doesn’t notice something is up.
“Everything okay?” she wants to know as she stands at her
desk, gathering things she needs for her day and placing them in her bag. “You
look more out of it than you did before the coffee.”
“I ran into someone I haven’t seen in a long time,” I
murmur, and for some reason Jude’s seventeen-year-old face floats through my
head, not Dixie’s from this morning. “The last time I saw her was in Maine eleven
years ago, so it was surprising.”
“Wow.” Marti takes a break from filling her Michael Kors
satchel with listing flyers. “Small world, huh? I love when that happens.
Unless it’s someone I hate. Was it someone you hate?”
“No. Not at all,” I reply and drop down gently into my seat.
“She and her sisters were sweethearts. Seems like they still are. I’ll
definitely find out, because I’m having brunch with them tomorrow.”
“Cool.” Marti isn’t paying attention anymore. Her eyes are
focused across the room on Parker McDavid, who is the owner of our company.
He’s midforties, tall with a dad bod that is oddly at- tractive, probably
because he covers it in perfectly tailored designer clothes. His dark hair is
graying in all the right places, like George Clooney’s, and his eyes are warm
and his smile is kind. But he’s an astute businessman who expects a lot from
his Realtors, and Marti is constantly trying to impress him. I am too, if I’m
being honest, but I’m new. She’s not new, but she’s still hungry.
“I’m going to tell Parker about the deal I just closed, and
then I’m off for a condo showing,” Marti explains and barely even waves good-bye
as she hustles toward the kitchen Parker just disappeared into for his morning
croissant and English Breakfast tea.
I open my laptop and pull up my email, determined to keep my
mind focused on work. I need to send a follow-up email regarding the potential
Haight listing, but my brain is bouncing from Adam to Dixie.
One future encounter I’m dreading—confronting Adam—and one
I’m looking forward to—seeing the Braddock sisters. But the one that isn’t
destined to happen is the one that fills me with excitement I haven’t felt in a
long time—the potential that since I’m meeting three Braddock siblings I might
also run into the fourth: Jude.
The San Francisco Thunder Series
SCORE, #1
SLAMMED, #2- Coming Soon
About Victoria Denault
Victoria Denault loves long walks on the beach, cinnamon
dolce lattes and writing angst-filled romance. She lives in L.A. but grew up in
Montreal, which is why she is fluent in English, French and hockey.
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