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.

this was so cute and fun! I really enjoyed this book! The characters and plot was really well developed! I also really enjoyed Ripper's writing style and technique it was great

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.