rating: 3.8 ⭐️

i feel like i have been waiting for this book since the start of the series. and it did 👏🏻 not 👏🏻 disappoint. lucy score saved the best for last.

here we finally have the story of sloane and lucian (who i will hear-by only refer to as 🖤suit daddy🖤). what we know is that these two cannot *stand* each other, but we don’t know why… UNTIL NOW. this is a small-town, friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance and i recommend reading the other two books before this one because they lay a lot of groundwork. also, you’re missing out if you don’t.

okay here we go. i flippin love suit daddy. WHAT A SWEET SOUL MASQUERADING AS THE ANGEL OF DEATH. the little things he does for sloane’s mom — FOR SLOANE — honestly just everything about him had me swooning. and AND we get a peek into his seventeen-year-old brain in the flashbacks and it was just 🥺🥰 (i could’ve done with more flashbacks to sloane and lucian’s budding high school love but i love a good flashback). the banter between them always hits. and there’s always that sizzling undercurrent of tension. i hesitate to say this is a true enemies-to-lovers because they don’t hate each other (at all really). they just have some… baggage to work through. and them working through it is the plot, and it works incredibly well!! i was rooting so hard for them to get to the good part… i mean the things this man does in the last third of the story. you need to read this book just to get to the simping. it’s 10/10.

my one qualm is i simply do not care about the anthony hugo subplot. i read it and my eyes glaze over. i’m also like why does this dude care about these people in the small town? idk, i didn’t need it. other than that — this series is just fun! read it to have a good time, giggle, blush, feel the good things.

This book.... 𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐎𝐏 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑, and one of my 𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐒 this year. ⁣
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My heart!!! What am I going to do with my life now that the series is over?!!? Lol
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𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝗪𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐅𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐃 gave me all the feels. I laughed, swooned, cried, and HATE a certain character. Ugh. I just wanted to protect Sloane and Lucian. ⁣

Lucian and Sloane were neighbors across the street so Sloane pretty much knows Lucian more than anyone. I'm not going to say too much because I don't want to spoil anything, but Sloane did something that broke the trust between them. This totally changed their life. They were friends when they were younger, but now, they're enemies that couldn't stand each other's presence. They were both forced to be in each other's presence when Sloane's father died.

The buildup of their character development was definitely beautiful. Lucy Score saved the best for last. I do have to say the beginning was quite slow, but when it picked up, I couldn't put it down.

Highly, highly recommend this book!! This full series.

I started this series a couple of years ago, and genuinely it renewed my love for romance. I love the small town environment, the character dynamics that feel so local and intimate and homey and special, while also still being a perfect escapist read. This book though, by far my favorite of the three. We've been watching Lucian and Sloane for a while now and I didn't think their tension could be matched once we finally dove into their story, but truly this was incredible. The use of flashbacks was a perfect balance without being overdone, and the style choice really highlighted how vulnerable and and sacred young love can be, even if it turns to hate. Their banter and their build up felt the most realistic out of all three couples and was so engaging, I couldn't put it down!

This book is perfect for fans of small town romance and enemies to lovers with a morally grey mc.
Enemies Sloane and Lucian decide to have one night to get rid of all the sexual tension between them, but can’t seem to stop. They want completely different things in life but can’t let each other go.
I absolutely loved this book. I read it in two days and was completely hooked. I have been waiting to read about Sloane and Lucian since the first book and I was not disappointed. The tension and the banter is amazing. The tropes are amazing. The characters are amazing and the plot was amazing. This book gets 5 stars from me. It was absolutely perfect and I would one hundred percent recommend this to other people.

Some of the tropes include:

- enemies to lovers
- Enemies with benefits
- Morally grey love interest
- Small town
- Second chance

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will always be the biggest fan of Lucy’s writing but this one was just a wee bit too long. The banter was great, the romance was great, the mystery was great! But it was just too long and I was getting bored.

This was a delightful and steamy end to this series. I thoroughly enjoyed the story of Lucian and Sloan. The enemies to lovers trope is a good one and the book deals with some difficult issues well. Lucian's possessiveness of Sloan was a bit over the top, but I still enjoyed it.

I was provided a free advanced copy of this from @netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
My request for this was accepted a few days before publication, and I hadn't read the second book 🫣, so I was definitely not able to get this one done before publication date, but this was so good!!
It is the third and final book in the Knockemout series and I think it is the best yet! I loved Lucian and Sloane's relationship. Throughout the first two books we see the tension between the two, but don't learn why until this one.
We once again have some great dialogue/banter between the characters, lots of spice, and some tense situations with the mystery finally coming to a conclusion!
You definitely need to read the series in order, but I would recommend them all. They are long, but I flew through them as you really feel like part of this tight friend/family group!
This one was published earlier this month, so you can get all three now!
#NetGalley #ThingsWeLeftBehind

THINGS WE LEFT BEHIND Knockemout Book 3 by Lucy Score
I have absolutely loved this story!! Lucy Score has done an exemplary job with Knockemout and its residents. I have enjoyed the comaraderie between all the characters so much. I am definitely not ready to see the series end. Hey Lucy, how about Waylay getting a story too?! Since this one ends with grandchildren, it would work out...
Lucian Rollins and Sloane Walton are the focus of this book and it is filled with plenty of angst, steam, and so much witty banter. They are my favorite Knockemout couple.
I bought the audio book and Sebastian York and Lila Winters have done a wonderful job with the voices. This is a definite 5 stars.

Things We Left Behind by Lucy Score is book three in the Knockemount Series. This is the story of Lucien and Sloane. This is a interconnecting series so it does had to your enjoyment if you have read the previous books. But, this can be a standalone book. If you have read the previous books then you have been waiting too to get Sloane and Lucien's story. They had been young and in love but something happened that neither could move past. So several years later their feelings came to the forefront and not to be ignored. Loved this author!!

Sloane and Lucian's story is the one we 've all been waiting for! These two have been bickering for 2 decades now but you can tell they are really into each other and wanting things to be different. We finally get to learn all about the history that they have between them.

Knockemout has been a fun series and while I still loved it, I did feel like it was a bit longer than necessary. Usually I breeze through my books pretty fast but this one took me a whole week to read!

Great conclusion to this series.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Publication date: 5 September 2023.

I have never read a Lucy Score book before, and I heard great things about her, so I was excited to start this book. I loved that the writing was emotionally charged and felt that both Sloan and Lucien were witty, honest, and emotional, and they had great chemistry with each other. Their shared traumatic past helped them become closer. I enjoyed getting to know their background and them as individuals. My only complaint is that no rom-com should be 600+ pages. This book could have easily been accomplished in 200-300 pages. I struggled to stay interested quite a bit, and it was quite a long journey to get a resolution between Sloan and Lucien

Thank you to NetGallery and to Sourcebooks Bloom Books for a copy of the book.

I read my 1st from this author this year: I reissue of Pretend You're Mine. Just like this book, it is long. Maybe even unnecessarily long, but I remember really liking it and thinking how I totally understood why this author had a Goodreads Choice Nominee for Best Romance in 2022.

Fast forward to this moment. Welp, this is also a long book – that’s ok! I’m sure it’s all about quality – and then… Nope, this book isn’t very good.

I’ll take some ownership for why I’m grading this just shy of 2 stars. Why should I expect coming in at the finale of this trilogy that I might enjoy it, especially, when it may be some of my fault for missing prior context from Book 1 and 2? But, we all know plenty of skilled writers that hold our attention with well-written continuations that are still powerful standalones. This is not 1 of those. I barely started and went to switch to another author’s book partway. Folks, there’s something wrong if you can’t hold my book attention!

There were some good moments: Some well written lines and the throwbacks had a nice tone.

So all I have to say is..... #suitdaddy! Uh, I knew Lucian and Sloan's story would be my favorite- but it was MY FAVE! The banter, the pining, the history, the sex, the second-chance... And the Alpha'ness is just *chefs kiss* Read this, you won't regret it. Only downside is that I was totally over the mob side-story after book 1.

Thank you to Bloom Books and NetGalley for the arc!!

I was really excited to read this book since book #1. We've been teased about the reasoning behind their deep hatred towards each other and with the this book we finally know all the details. The first 50% I had mixed feelings about the book, but once the relationship picked up it got exponentially better. Lucy Score did a really good job tying up all the storylines from previous books into this one. The connection and tension that Sloane and Lucian have is 💯. I enjoyed this book more than the other two. I highly recommend it.

I was extremely excited for Lucian and Sloan’s story. Their romance has been dangled over us for two books and I’ve been highly anticipating their story. I enjoyed my time reading this book, but it didn’t end up loving it as much as I expected I would.

I really liked the fact that we got flashbacks to Lucian and Sloan’s childhood so that we could understand their history. Lucian’s backstory was just as tragic as expected and honestly tugged on my heartstrings. Sloan’s hopelessness for Lucian and her desire to come up with a solution was absolutely believable. What bothered me was the conflict and the fact that it spanned decades. I would have loved for there to have a been a different conflict because I just couldn’t wrap my head about this one.

I also didn’t love the crime plot, but that was sort of overarching in the entire series. It’s always felt a bit like an after thought. I would have either preferred no crime drama or a more fleshed out one.

All that being said, I actually really enjoyed the characters from this series and loved reading each of their stories. The banter was entertaining and I love the found family that was built throughout the series. Although I felt as though the plot and essence of the characters was missing a bit in this one, I still had a good time going back to Knockemout.

I am speechless. I screamed I cried I am so sad this series is over, Lucy definitely left us with a bang for her last couple. Sloane and Lucian were perfection… SUIT DADDY UGH!!!!!! I’m going to be honest and was really worried with the length of this book but I was not bored once.
Can’t wait to see what Lucy has in store next.

I absolutely loved this series and I am sad it is over. Things We Left Behind is the final book in the Knockemout series and it was the best. I always enjoy the tall dark serious male character and the sunshine female characters as they remind me of my husband and I. Throughout the two previous books, Lucien and Sloane's story has been just below the surface. The witty banter and sexual tension are 10 stars. This series is a must read!!!

Thank you for the advanced copy.

Happy release day to Lucy Score’s Things We Left Behind, *As Always* Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for sending me an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I knew as soon as the first book introduced these characters I was gonna be groveling and daydreaming about them for months. I got this arc super late and tried to read it and review it quickly! But I'm not holding back at the author or the story, these things happen, even if I’ve read the previous books in a week specifically for this one.

It was worth it because this was THE BEST book in the trilogy.
This enemies-to-lovers story is just superior, and even with all the things I disagree with the author, I can't deny how good this is. I don't even blame my love for Lucian - who's definitely more my type in comparison to Knox and Nash -, because I know every one of you was waiting for Sloane and Lucian’s story like you wait for Christmas Day.
Also, just so you know, I cried a lot. And even if it's not unusual for me, the purpose of this book wasn't to make me cry.

It's so bittersweet to finish the Knocketmout series because I fell in love with so quickly. Things We Left Behind is the last book and it closes with Sloane and Lucian's story. AND WHAT A STORY IT IS!

I loved everything about this book: it made me cry, swoon, smile, and laugh so hard. I loved seeing the whole group of friends again for one last time. It was so funny and entertaining to see them interact, I loved all their scenes as an ensemble. But I also adored all of the Sloane/Lucian scenes. They were angsty, intense, and sooooo romantic. Friends who became enemies who then become... something more? Hopefully! (It's a romance novel so obviously there's a HEA). But yes, they think that a one-night stand could get them out of their systems, finally. Maybe sex is the answer to stop being so annoying towards each other.

Newsflash: It wasn't.

Now, they can't stop this insane chemistry, sexual tension, flirting between them. But there are far too many issues between them to forget. So, before they start something new, something real (FINALLY), they have to first figure out some things.

When I had my IG Live with Lucy, she told me she wrote an extra bonus epilogue at the end and that she loved it and she couldn't say more, but I instantly knew it was going to be fab. AND NOW, FINALLY AFTER READING IT? Yeah, Lucy came and delivered. That extra bonus epilogue made me cry and I couldn't stop smiling wow. I'm so sad to see this story end but I'm excited to see more from Lucy and what more stories she brings to us.

Let me just start off this review with… SUIT DADDY FOR THE WIN 😩

My god did I love this so much as it was everything I hoped for and more!! I have been waiting for Lucian and Sloane's story since the beginning and boy it did not disappoint.

Lucy Score just had this type of writing that grabs you and holds you. She’s humors but also so sentimental and deals with heavy topics. Plus the way she’s writes the main characters chemistry and banter is chefs kiss 🤌🏻

Lucian and Sloane were just absolutely perfect for each other. Him - the icy businessman with a hidden loving heart, and her - a stubborn and sassy girl who gives as good as she gets. I also just loved how they both evolved and grew together throughout this book. This couple again is my absolute favorite throughout the entire series!

Thank you so much to Netgalley for this arc!!!