“Any game becomes important when you know and love the players.” ― W.P. Kinsella
From the moment I picked up Scoring, I didn’t want to put it down. I can honestly say that I have never read an anthology where I liked every story. Actually, I loved every story!
Scoring is a sports themed collection of short stories edited by Vincent Diamond, who did an incredible job of picking such diverse and rich stories. The anthology includes a couple of stories about baseball, a cricket story set in India on the eve of WW2, a runner’s story, and a hockey novella. The “players” are mostly jocks with a sprinkling of your nerdy/sensitive types. I was pleasantly surprised because not all the characters and pairings were your usual stereotypes. There was the typical jock and nerd combo, but they were written in a very believable way. For me the characters worked on all levels. And I loved all of them.
Each story was exceptionally written. It’s very difficult to develop characters and give their back story in such a short period of time, but all the authors did an incredible job. They made me emotionally involved in their story telling, made me want to know more about the characters and their stories.
Only one word can describe the sex in this anthology, HOT! From sweet and tender to rough and raunchy, this collection had it. Even though the lead up to sex was very short, because it is a short story and there is no time for long courtships, the stories themselves made the sex scenes work in the way they where told and the scene set up. The 3rd person narrative and 1st person internal monologues made me, the reader, experience what the characters did. Yes, I did get hot and bothered just a few times.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys sports and the hunky guys who play them. And as always, I wanted more.
Reviewed by: Lana
You can buy Scoring here: 