Kennedy Ryan‘s latest novel, Score, proves once again that the celebrated author has mastered the art of writing romance that refuses to exist in a limited form. Her stories pulse with desire and intimacy, yes, but they are equally committed to examining the realities people carry into love.
As the second installment in her Hollywood Renaissance series, Score arrives like a wrecking ball dressed in silk. When she described the story to EBONY as “a fast start to a slow burn,” she wasn’t exaggerating.
The novel unfolds alongside the timeline of Reel, the first book installment of the series, but this time the perspective shifts to screenwriter Verity and composer Monk. In Reel, Ryan alluded to the pair’s tension just enough to spark curiosity without revealing much. Score cracks that tension wide open. In its pages, Ryan explores mental health, bisexuality, faith, homophobia, and acceptance through the perspective of someone living with bipolar disorder firsthand.
Though Ryan is wildly beloved for her erotic and emotionally immersive love stories, what continues to differentiate her work is how seamlessly she intertwines life’s complexities into every story. Score interrogates what it means to love and be loved while navigating identity, illness, and vulnerability.
The novel’s exploration of bipolar disorder hit far closer to home than I bargained for. As a family member of someone navigating the same disorder as Verity, I found moments in the story felt almost too familiar. To be explicitly clear, loving someone with a mental health disorder is not difficult. The difficulty often lies in the unpredictability of the downswing, in the moments where everyone involved is trying to find stable ground again. Ryan captures that emotional landscape with exceptional sincerity.
When EBONY sat down with Ryan, the conversation evolved beyond the novel and into the why behind her storytelling. How does she consistently create characters that feel so textured and human? Her answer was simple: research and intention.
“I really don’t see a lot of good bipolar representation,” Ryan explained. “In some cases, it’s been badly represented, misrepresented, and sensationalized and depicted without compassion or without understanding.”
That lack of care is exactly what Ryan refuses to replicate. Drawing on her journalism background, she described an intensive research process rooted first in conversations with people with lived experience. “I always start with people who actually have this diagnosis,” she said. “Then I start looking for people adjacent to that diagnosis, partners, family members, therapists, psychiatrists.”
Ryan spent three months conducting interviews while also immersing herself in books, podcasts, medical journals, and sensitivity reads. “For what I’m trying to do, you can’t just sit down and write it,” she said. That commitment is palpable throughout Score. There’s nothing in Verity’s story that feels smoothed over or dialed up just to make a point.
That same intentionality extends to Verity’s bisexuality. “I didn’t want bi-erasure,” Ryan shared. “I didn’t want to just tell readers she was bisexual. I wanted to show it in her life.” The result is a novel that feels emotionally honest in ways that linger.
Ryan’s stories are headed for an even larger stage. The author recently partnered with Universal Pictures to adapt her Skyland series, including Before I Let Go, while also helping bring other authors’ stories to the screen. The partnership, she explained, aligned perfectly with her desire to amplify marginalized voices through film and television. She’s currently co-writing a pilot with Malcolm D. Lee and, by her own account, “having the time of her life.”
Score arrives on bookshelves May 19.