'Scoring Wilder', A Review

Intelligent, relatively self-aware 19-year-old protagonist, check. Hot, talented love interest, check. A number of writing mistakes like "Her and Emily" and "the Coffee Shop", a big ol' check. Well-paced beach read that left me satisfied, check. 

It was refreshing that...
the main character, Kinsley, made some reasonable jokes in the beginning of the novel. She was wrapping her head around the fact that Josh, her pal-turned-boyfriend, was now the second guy to cheat on her, leaving her reeling at a drinking party on her birthday two weeks later, when she downed a lot of shots and hit on professional footie player Liam, darling of the LA Stars, "sex on steroids rolled in pastry crust" Wilder, a dude who revealed himself to be the volunteer assistant coach of her college soccer team. Kinsley was embarrassed by the lack of a good first impression, but of course that wasn't a huge deal, especially when compared to Wilder's hotness. He had dirty blond male model looks, of which we got a delectable reminder at times. Her friends said "you should date Liam to get back at Josh", encouraging adventure, like proper buds should, but backed it up with drive of their own in the next chapter by taking soccer just as seriously as Kinsley did (Supporting characters who each have more than one dimension? check!).

This story, just like R.S. Grey's previous e-book, With this Heart, used cliches in a way that wasn't tired and annoying but worthy of my empathy as a reader, making the main character and the supporting ones into driven, thoughtful people who don't float through life pining for romance, but running into their near-future mates out in the world, growing to include that lover in their forward momentum. I really liked Mia in The Princess Diaries until her achievements became, in my mind, far overshadowed by her whiny lack of self-confidence, but in the light, fun read that was Kinsley's beginning on the ULA soccer team, the reader has a girl working hard, maintaining goals, acknowledging her experience with untrustworthy guys, texting with a loving but questionably distant mom, feeling pretty, learning lessons and enjoying herself. She unapologetically tries new things, like falling for a famous guy, and that kind of bravery is common, but still deserves to be appreciated.

It also takes guts to put up with the antagonist, a nut bag named Tara. She was so very negative and desperate for attention that she made Yzma in The Emperor's New Groove 

look like Megan from Rock of Love.

 I'd like to add that Liam didn't just seem intimidating because of his fame (the paps, the fans, etc), but holy crap was he normal! What a decent guy!

Now about the little writing mistakes: we get directly reminded a little too often of the fact that the story is set in Los Angeles, because I saw the city name and its abbreviation so much, but more importantly, there were more grammatical errors than one should see in a novel (as opposed to an online story). 

That said, I've now been an R.S. Grey fan two books in a row and I'm excited for her about her popularity. Go indie writers! Three cheers for independent girls in fiction and real life!

Scoring Wilder is available here, and it was published on June 15.