Score to Love Review — Is It Worth Reading?

Verdict: A hot, soccer-heavy enemies-to-lovers romance between a Brazilian newcomer and a coach’s daughter on the same team. The chemistry and football scenes land, but Camila’s hot-and-cold behaviour tests many readers’ patience for much of the book.

Best for: Readers who want a steamy rivals-to-lovers sports romance and don’t mind a prickly heroine.

Heat level: Steamy

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.6/5 — a 4.10 Goodreads average across 302 ratings, 3.77 on StoryGraph from 64 reviews, and 4.5 stars across 277 Amazon ratings)

Tropes: Enemies to lovers, friends with benefits, teammates, forced proximity (shared rooms), family pressure, HEA.

Score to Love is Johana Gavez’s 2022 contemporary lesbian romance, the second book in her International Sports Romance series. Antonia Carvalho has left Brazil for a professional career with the Houston Starlight; Camila Sánchez has spent her life in the shadow of her father, a former soccer star and coach.

It holds a 4.10 average across 302 Goodreads ratings, with 73% of them four or five stars, 3.77 on StoryGraph from 64 reviews, and 4.5 stars across 277 Amazon ratings.

What Is Score to Love About?

Antonia’s plan is simple: score as many goals as possible, become one of the Starlight’s top players, and build better opportunities for herself and the brother who sacrificed for her. Nothing will get in the way — not even her attractive, annoying teammate.

Camila is fighting to prove she deserves her place on her own merits. She won’t let Antonia steal her spot, no matter how much chemistry they have in bed.

What Works in This Romance

Chemistry and heat: Readers call it hot and the push and pull well done.
Antonia: Many love her confidence, honesty and cooking, and her relationship with her brother.
The football: Soccer fans praise the match scenes; one Brazilian reader was moved by Antonia’s explanation of saudade.
The team: Readers enjoyed the camaraderie with their teammates.

Book Synopsis

Two teammates who resent each other on sight — one assuming the other had everything handed to her, the other thinking her rival a show-off — end up in bed.

Sharing rooms and then an apartment, they have to work out whether they can be more than rivals with benefits.

My Review

When the book is on the pitch or in their shared space, it moves. The enemies-with-benefits arc gives plenty of heat, and Antonia is a warm, easy-to-root-for lead.

The recurring complaint is Camila: several readers found her whiny, judgmental and mean for most of the book, running hot and cold on Antonia. A smaller group found Antonia arrogant instead. Others felt the rivalry flipped to kissing too quickly, that Camila’s story with her father was left hanging, and that a late conflict came out of nowhere. One reader says the book was a 2.5 for half its length before the last third rescued it.

My honest note: Stick with it — readers say it gets better in the final third.

Element	In Score to Love
Central relationship	Antonia Carvalho, a Brazilian player, & Camila Sánchez, a teammate and coach’s daughter
Core tropes	Enemies to lovers, friends with benefits, teammates, forced proximity
Setting	The Houston Starlight, a professional women’s soccer team
Heat level	Steamy
Length	297 pages (Kindle listing)
Series	International Sports Romance #2 — works as a standalone
Content notes	Death of a parent (past)

How Spicy Is Score to Love?

Fairly spicy. Readers call it a hot love story, and StoryGraph users have tagged graphic sexual content.

StoryGraph users have also flagged the death of a parent, which is part of Antonia’s backstory.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you want enemies with benefits and soccer. It is on our sapphic sports romance list.

All 25 verified soccer romances, including the six-book Girls of Summer series, are in our Sapphic Soccer Romance Books guide.

You may want to skip it if: a hot-and-cold heroine will drive you up the wall.

In short: Hot, sporty, prickly.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (September 2026)

On Goodreads the split is 39% five stars, 34% four, 22% three, 1% two and under 1% one. On StoryGraph, 71% tagged it lighthearted and 64% emotional, but only 64% found the characters loveable — noticeably lower than for Match to Love.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The heat first. Second, Antonia. Third, the soccer. Fourth, the team.

What readers argue about and complain about: Camila’s hot-and-cold behaviour, above everything. Second, rushed early hook-up. Third, dropped threads.

The comparison worth making first: Match to Love, the gentler first book in the series.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Score to Love enemies to lovers?

Yes — the book describes itself as enemies to friends-with-benefits to lovers. The two rivals hook up early, and the feelings come more slowly.

Do I need to read Match to Love first?

No. It features a new couple; Dani’s agent from book one reappears, but the story stands on its own.

Does Score to Love have a happy ending?

Yes. One reader confirms an HEA, though the two spend some time apart for their careers first.

How spicy is Score to Love?

Steamy. Readers call it hot, and StoryGraph users have tagged graphic sexual content.

Is Score to Love on Kindle Unlimited?

Yes, at the time of writing it was available through Kindle Unlimited, or $5.99 to buy on Kindle.

If You Loved Score to Love, Read These Next

Go back to Match to Love, or browse our sapphic sports romance list and the full Book Reviews archive.

The Bottom Line

Score to Love sets out to be a steamy enemies-to-lovers soccer romance, and the heat is there. What holds it back is a heroine many readers struggle to like. Worth it for rivals-to-lovers fans. Check Score to Love on Amazon →