Nook Book, 222 pagesRelease Date: May 13, 2014Published by: William MorrowRusk University, #1Source: Own (Pre-ordered)For fans of: Sports, Contemporary Romance, Chick lit, NANew 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.
TAKE ME AWAY...
AFTER DARK!
*This book is part of the new adult contemporary romance genre! It is more mature than both MG & YA. I have featured it in Take Me Away... After Dark as a way to feature the few Adult and New Adult titles I am beginning to read!"
*MY THOUGHTS*
Being from Texas, I can honestly say that the way Carmack depicted football and it's importance to our state was no joke. It doesn't matter whether you're a man, woman, old, or young, you know something about football.Even if its only a small thing, you know SOMETHING.
"In Texas, two things are cherished above all else—football and gossip."
1%
Dallas is the daughter of a football coach. In Texas that's kind of a big deal because everyone there lives and breathes football. Except Dallas. She's sick of the sport, her dad, and most of all the players. Especially the players from teams in the past. Then there's Carson who's new to the school and is sick of being second string quarterback. He is determined to get that starting spot so he's got to stay focused. Things don't go as planned when Dallas and Carson meet.
"Good is never good enough."
19%
Dallas was such a great character. Besides the fact that she got her name from a certain team I despise, I really liked her. She had seemed scared and timid, but we all get like that sometimes. And I can definitely say I understand her not wanting to be around people. STORY OF MY LIFE. And I can also understand her being too timid to face her dad. He's a coach. With me growing up in athletics, I KNOW how it doesn't matter what kind of advice they're giving, they have to yell and get mad. No one wants to go through that alllllll the time. But I was so happy that she was able to finally grow up and go fro what she wanted.
"Sometimes its hard to see past our own broken pieces."
63%
Now Carson was a different story. I LOVED him. He drug me through so many emotions. From happy to sad to so damn proud. From the very beginning it was obvious that he couldn't get enough of Dallas. I loved that he wasn't a typical guy that tried to act like Dallas didn't matter. And when everything started happening I loved how he was so patient. Tack on that he's a football player with a really lean, muscely body and he jumps even higher on my perfect boy scale.
"Regardless of how much I like [him], do I like the person I am with him? It would be an easier question to answer if I had an idea who I really was.."
74%
As for the romance, I was so upset that it took so long for them to get their lives together. As I said I could see that he loved her. And even though she so fought so hard to deny it, she was a goner too. The scenes where they were together were quite obviously my favorites. Then towards the end when things threatened to end it completely, I was pissed. I hated reading about them apart. I wanted them to be happy. I don't remember shipping an NA couple this hard since I started reading it.
Normally when I review Contemporary Romances I talk about the characters individually, together, and whatever issue they have separating them.In this case, it wasn't really an issue, but a sport. Football. I loved how Carmack wrote bits and pieces of games into it. I swear I was swept away to Rusk in the stands. It seemed like I was really there watching the game by how worked up I was. And when I saw "worked up," I really mean it. During the Homecoming scene I found myself even get a little teary because I was so damn proud of Carson. When I say I was attached to these characters, I mean it lol"If humans were capable of being perfect there would be no such thing as Jerry Springer, and the world would be filled with unicorns and fairies, and families would never be broken, and children would never disappoint their parents, and things wouldn't hurt as badly, but it also wouldn't feel so damn good when things go right."
75%
"The only things we can do is try to find people whose scars compliment out own."
75%
Cora Carmack should be doing an endzone dance by how well she pulled this off! I was a little worried because I didn't think that anyone could really understand the relationship that Texas and football have, but I see now that Carmack really did. (I learned that she is from Texas and her own father is a coach.) It's no wonder that I loved this story. It holds some of my favorite things; life, love, and football.
Overall, I give this
