I’m so excited to be a part of the All Lined Up blog tour!! You can read my review below, and enter the tour-wide giveaway!
All Lined Up by Cora Carmack
Series: Rusk University #1 (full reading order below)
Release date: May 13th 2014
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cora Carmack follows up her trio of hits—Losing It, Faking It, and Finding It—with this thrilling first novel in an explosive series bursting with the Texas flavor, edge, and steamy romance of Friday Night Lights.
In Texas, two things are cherished above all else—football and gossip. My life has always been ruled by both.
Dallas Cole loathes football. That’s what happens when you spend your whole childhood coming in second to a sport. College is her time to step out of the bleachers, and put the playing field (and the players) in her past.
But life doesn’t always go as planned. As if going to the same college as her football star ex wasn’t bad enough, her father, a Texas high school coaching phenom, has decided to make the jump to college ball… as the new head coach at Rusk University. Dallas finds herself in the shadows of her father and football all over again.
Carson McClain is determined to go from second-string quarterback to the starting line-up. He needs the scholarship and the future that football provides. But when a beautiful redhead literally falls into his life, his focus is more than tested. It’s obliterated.
Dallas doesn’t know Carson is on the team. Carson doesn’t know that Dallas is his new coach’s daughter.
And neither of them know how to walk away from the attraction they feel.
Buy Links:
Amazon • Barnes and Noble
All Lined Up is too much cuteness! It’s such a sweet, quick, fun read, and I zipped through it in one sitting. I was already a fan of Cora Carmack’s after reading the Losing It series, and All Lined Up impressed me even more! Cora Carmack is spot-on as a new adult writer–I loved the way she portrayed her characters and I fell in love with her writing.
It was so easy to immerse myself into the world of All Lined Up, and into Rusk University. Football is, of course, one of the main aspects of the story, and even though i know next to nothing about football, the author was able to explain just how much football means to people without making me feel disconnected. Dallas is the daughter of one of the new coaches at Rusk University, and she’s a bit of a goody two-shoes. Her main passion has always been dancing, but she lets her father control her life and center it around football. Dallas is incredibly likable and relatable–she’s a girl who’s been stuck under her parent’s thumb for too long and doesn’t know the way out.
And I find myself thinking that church is like my kid’s sermon… It parallels my life as a whole. I show up, but I’m not in it. I go through the motions, but my mind wanders elsewhere. I dress and behave in the ways I know won’t get me in trouble. I get by. I bide my time waiting for the moment when it all ends.
But life isn’t church. It isn’t one hour during one day in the week. It’s everything, and I’m wasting it.
Carson is a transfer student trying to succeed through football, because it’s pretty much the only thing he can do. He needs to get a good spot on the football team and get a scholarship–otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to afford college. Carson is incredibly dedicated and determined, both of which are qualities that made me fall for him. He’s a good guy through and through, and even though he tries to make football his number one priority, the moment Dallas walks into his life, he can’t get her out of his mind–and he doesn’t want to.
The two of them don’t realize their relationship with one another–that Dallas is Carson’s coach’s daughter–so when they meet, sparks fly, and they allow a small moment of freedom to express their wants and desires for one another. They have this undeniable connection with one another that they’ve never experienced before, and it’s so sweet to see the two of them together.
But once the ball drops and they find out who they are, they try to become friends, but they can never get rid of their attraction to one another. Carson and Dallas spend more and more time together, and it’s easy to see how they fall for each other. I loved their relationship and how it grew slowly. They both knew there were risks to being together, so they were mature and cautious about it. But at then end of the day, they can’t deny the chemistry between them, and I wanted them to get together so badly! Carson and Dallas complement each other so well and make the perfect couple.
I loved the fact that even as their relationship developed, Dallas and Carson developed as characters as well. Individually, they have much more to learn and to grow to be the person they are most comfortable with.
All in all, All Lined Up shouldn’t be missed. It’s the perfect new adult novel with great writing, characters who have great emotional depth, and a story that keeps you hooked.
Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.
Reading Order: Rusk University series
#1 ~ All Lined Up: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#2 ~ All Broke Down: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads (Oct. 7, 2014)
#3 ~ All Played Out: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads (Feb. 24, 2015)
Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She’s done a multitude of things in her life– boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, LOSING IT, is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.
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