poorashleu's review
3.0
Originally posted here
Dallas wants to move on from high school but that’s hard when your life in college is much of the same from high school. She lives in the same state, and her father is still coaching the football team. Life hasn’t changed for her no matter how much she tries.
Carson has almost the opposite problem. He is the second string quarterback on a team where the first string, Levi, is a king from high school and is still working with his former coach, who happened to date Dallas, who also happened to be an asshole. They had sex to save their relationship and of course, that didn’t work and Dallas still loathes him.
Dallas and Carson shouldn’t work. But they do. They start out as friends, who also call each other on their bullshit. Which, if I’m being honest, is my favorite type of friendship! One thing I enjoy about Carmack is that she doesn’t hide from the tough issues that people face, including money issues in college. Carson went to community college and knows that if he doesn’t get a scholarship he can only be at Rusk for three semesters. Dallas just wants out of Rusk purely because her father is still there. What’s interesting though is that Carson does not know that Dallas is Coach’s daughter, who everyone wants. There is a pivotal moment in the middle of the novel where my heart went out to both characters because they were both hurt and said things that they both clearly did not mean but knew no other way to get their point across.
I also found the dynamic between Dallas and her father interesting because they both try to love the other as well as they could, but it’s hard because they don’t know how to show it. So they fumble it a lot. They both also admit to making faults, but it takes them quite sometime to get there. But of course, the most interesting dynamic throughout the book was between Dallas and Carson, they really are just friends. Carson doesn’t want to date anyone because he is dedicated to the team and getting a scholarship. Dallas learned her lesson from Levi and doesn’t want to date another football guy. Even though Carson is perfect for her, the fact he’s a football player drives her crazy and makes her throw her arms at him.
There was nothing particularly horrible about this novel, I just am not interested in ever re-reading it. Basically how I feel about most New Adult novels.
Dallas wants to move on from high school but that’s hard when your life in college is much of the same from high school. She lives in the same state, and her father is still coaching the football team. Life hasn’t changed for her no matter how much she tries.
Carson has almost the opposite problem. He is the second string quarterback on a team where the first string, Levi, is a king from high school and is still working with his former coach, who happened to date Dallas, who also happened to be an asshole. They had sex to save their relationship and of course, that didn’t work and Dallas still loathes him.
Dallas and Carson shouldn’t work. But they do. They start out as friends, who also call each other on their bullshit. Which, if I’m being honest, is my favorite type of friendship! One thing I enjoy about Carmack is that she doesn’t hide from the tough issues that people face, including money issues in college. Carson went to community college and knows that if he doesn’t get a scholarship he can only be at Rusk for three semesters. Dallas just wants out of Rusk purely because her father is still there. What’s interesting though is that Carson does not know that Dallas is Coach’s daughter, who everyone wants. There is a pivotal moment in the middle of the novel where my heart went out to both characters because they were both hurt and said things that they both clearly did not mean but knew no other way to get their point across.
I also found the dynamic between Dallas and her father interesting because they both try to love the other as well as they could, but it’s hard because they don’t know how to show it. So they fumble it a lot. They both also admit to making faults, but it takes them quite sometime to get there. But of course, the most interesting dynamic throughout the book was between Dallas and Carson, they really are just friends. Carson doesn’t want to date anyone because he is dedicated to the team and getting a scholarship. Dallas learned her lesson from Levi and doesn’t want to date another football guy. Even though Carson is perfect for her, the fact he’s a football player drives her crazy and makes her throw her arms at him.
There was nothing particularly horrible about this novel, I just am not interested in ever re-reading it. Basically how I feel about most New Adult novels.
bookwormbetty's review
5.0
Love this book, and Love this series. IMO Cora Carmack can write the phone book, and it would be a best seller. She has a way of making you feel what her characters feel. Dallas and Carson, never should have been, yet you are drawn into their story, and you get all the feels from it. This whole series is great, and it is a must read in my opinion.
joliendelandsheer's review
4.0
Review first published on my blog The Fictional Reader
I believe I had read 2 other books by Cora Carmack before starting this series. I read Losing It and its sequel, but wasn’t really impressed by them. I didn’t dislike them, I just wasn’t impressed either. I admit this book took me by surprise! I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did.
I liked this book because while there is still a bit of drama present, it doesn’t overwhelm the story like in some NA books. It’s the story of Dallas, the daughter of a football coach, and Carson, who wants to be in the starting line-up of the school’s football team. Can I just say that I love the way they met? It was so much fun!
I was not only invested in their romance, but completely in the characters as well. I wanted Dallas to fulfill her dancing dreams. I wanted Carson to make it on the starting team. I wanted Levi to move to a different country and pretend he doesn’t exist. Carson is also such a nice guy! This is not a bad-boy-turned-good story -for which I’m grateful.
I also really enjoyed the family aspect of the story on Dallas’ side. She really had some things to work out with her dad. I can see how scary that must be, and I think it was handled well. I really enjoyed the fact that Cora Carmack didn’t just gloss over the relationship and defined it as bad in general. She truly made Dallas deal with it in a positive way.
As you can see, I quite liked this book and immediately continued the series. I’d recommend it if you’re interested in NA!
I believe I had read 2 other books by Cora Carmack before starting this series. I read Losing It and its sequel, but wasn’t really impressed by them. I didn’t dislike them, I just wasn’t impressed either. I admit this book took me by surprise! I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did.
I liked this book because while there is still a bit of drama present, it doesn’t overwhelm the story like in some NA books. It’s the story of Dallas, the daughter of a football coach, and Carson, who wants to be in the starting line-up of the school’s football team. Can I just say that I love the way they met? It was so much fun!
I was not only invested in their romance, but completely in the characters as well. I wanted Dallas to fulfill her dancing dreams. I wanted Carson to make it on the starting team. I wanted Levi to move to a different country and pretend he doesn’t exist. Carson is also such a nice guy! This is not a bad-boy-turned-good story -for which I’m grateful.
I also really enjoyed the family aspect of the story on Dallas’ side. She really had some things to work out with her dad. I can see how scary that must be, and I think it was handled well. I really enjoyed the fact that Cora Carmack didn’t just gloss over the relationship and defined it as bad in general. She truly made Dallas deal with it in a positive way.
As you can see, I quite liked this book and immediately continued the series. I’d recommend it if you’re interested in NA!
donttakemybooks's review
3.0
Cute! Definitely a Friday Night Lights vibe, which I know most people will appreciate more than me (the show was good enough, but I never finished the whole thing). It took literally the entire book for the characters to have sex, which was appropriate for them, but I picked up a Cora Carmack book because she writes steamy sex scenes. I wasn't as impressed with the characters' emotional hangups in this as I was in Faking It. But all in all, this was a good, cute story that felt pretty true to the coach's daughter experience and the freshman year in college experience.
mehsi's review
2.0
“I don't know that dancing fixes anything. I don't feel magically happy because of it. My problems don't disappear when the music ends. But I understand life better when I dance, and understanding is half the fight of surviving.”
Phew, I am finally done! This was quite an ordeal to go through, but I wanted to finish it. Even though it wasn't too good, I still wanted to see if the characters would finally be able to get a public relationship. Plus, I had to read this book for a challenge on my group. But me and audio books? Are just not compatible. Which in part has to do with the fact that I can finish a book like this in around 2/3 hours, while with audio books you are stuck for 7 or more hours. Argh. And in other parts, it is all way too dependent on if the narrator can actually tell the story right. But yeah, for reasons I had to read the audio book.
Since it has been an on and off thing, I was reading whenever I felt like listening, I may not remember everything. I need to read/see things to actually remember them. I am a visual kind of girl. So sorry if this one is a tad chaotic. I still wanted to write a review as there were a few things I want to mention.
I did like Wyatt and Dallas together. They were so adorable and sweet, and I had a chuckle that they were trying to stay friends. Yeah guys, not going to work. You could clearly see the attraction from the start (though I have to say I did find it hilarious how Dallas was all like, no I am not kissing (or having sex) with random boys, then meets with Wyatt and kisses him senseless. And I think that it is only thanks to Stella that they didn't end up having sex on the lawn.), it was very much clear especially from Carson's POV (who kept have perverted thoughts and had to really hold himself in).
There is some silly drama near the end (sorry, that is the way it felt to me, it all went so good, and then Dallas had to do all that. If she had just talked to Carson she would have been saved all that stuff).
The ending was a bit abrupt, I was looking at my phone to see how far we were as it felt like there was still some time left, but then saw there were just a few seconds left.
The sex scenes/touching scenes, sorry slightly too awkward for me, but that probably had to do with the narrators.
Stella was a very sweet girl, and I loved how she tried to get Dallas to come more out of her shell. Plus she was very supportive and tried to help out Dallas. And it was fun to see them together.
I disliked Dallas' dad so so much. He was way too overprotective. I understand that his wife ran away, I understand that he wants to keep his daughter close. But to force her to go to the same university as you work at, and to not care that much about her dancing.... And yes, dads will be dads in the way of being protective when their daughter goes dating, but this guy was way over the top. The poor girl didn't even dare to date or go out with anyone for fear her dad would find out. And one time when she fell asleep at someone's place the dad went full bonkers. Hello, your kid is 18, maybe even 19. She deserves her quiet and peace. Let her make mistakes. Let her date the way she wants.
Let's end with the narrators. Dear Lord in heavens, this was definitely one of the reasons why I didn't like this one, and one of the reasons I rated the book so low. The girl voice... no. I already didn't quite like her while talking (a bit too nasally for me), but it got worse when she tried to do other girl's voices (like her friend), and even more terrible when she tried to do male voices. Girl, if you can't do male voices, don't even try. I am sorry, but her males sounded like someone ate a bunch of frogs and maybe a hint of gravel. It really pulled me out of the story countless of times, or made me laugh and forget the story and what was happening.
The guy however? Well, he sounded quite sexy and nice, though his female voices were a bit cringe, still I did think he did a better job than the girl narrator.
Sorry again for the chaos, and I am sorry I didn't like this book. It seemed to be a book I would enjoy, I am really into new adult these days. Not only that, I always want to read books taking place at college/university. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be, but at least I tried. And maybe I would have liked it better if was a normal book.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
Phew, I am finally done! This was quite an ordeal to go through, but I wanted to finish it. Even though it wasn't too good, I still wanted to see if the characters would finally be able to get a public relationship. Plus, I had to read this book for a challenge on my group. But me and audio books? Are just not compatible. Which in part has to do with the fact that I can finish a book like this in around 2/3 hours, while with audio books you are stuck for 7 or more hours. Argh. And in other parts, it is all way too dependent on if the narrator can actually tell the story right. But yeah, for reasons I had to read the audio book.
Since it has been an on and off thing, I was reading whenever I felt like listening, I may not remember everything. I need to read/see things to actually remember them. I am a visual kind of girl. So sorry if this one is a tad chaotic. I still wanted to write a review as there were a few things I want to mention.
I did like Wyatt and Dallas together. They were so adorable and sweet, and I had a chuckle that they were trying to stay friends. Yeah guys, not going to work. You could clearly see the attraction from the start (though I have to say I did find it hilarious how Dallas was all like, no I am not kissing (or having sex) with random boys, then meets with Wyatt and kisses him senseless. And I think that it is only thanks to Stella that they didn't end up having sex on the lawn.), it was very much clear especially from Carson's POV (who kept have perverted thoughts and had to really hold himself in).
There is some silly drama near the end (sorry, that is the way it felt to me, it all went so good, and then Dallas had to do all that. If she had just talked to Carson she would have been saved all that stuff).
The ending was a bit abrupt, I was looking at my phone to see how far we were as it felt like there was still some time left, but then saw there were just a few seconds left.
The sex scenes/touching scenes, sorry slightly too awkward for me, but that probably had to do with the narrators.
Stella was a very sweet girl, and I loved how she tried to get Dallas to come more out of her shell. Plus she was very supportive and tried to help out Dallas. And it was fun to see them together.
I disliked Dallas' dad so so much. He was way too overprotective. I understand that his wife ran away, I understand that he wants to keep his daughter close. But to force her to go to the same university as you work at, and to not care that much about her dancing.... And yes, dads will be dads in the way of being protective when their daughter goes dating, but this guy was way over the top. The poor girl didn't even dare to date or go out with anyone for fear her dad would find out. And one time when she fell asleep at someone's place the dad went full bonkers. Hello, your kid is 18, maybe even 19. She deserves her quiet and peace. Let her make mistakes. Let her date the way she wants.
Let's end with the narrators. Dear Lord in heavens, this was definitely one of the reasons why I didn't like this one, and one of the reasons I rated the book so low. The girl voice... no. I already didn't quite like her while talking (a bit too nasally for me), but it got worse when she tried to do other girl's voices (like her friend), and even more terrible when she tried to do male voices. Girl, if you can't do male voices, don't even try. I am sorry, but her males sounded like someone ate a bunch of frogs and maybe a hint of gravel. It really pulled me out of the story countless of times, or made me laugh and forget the story and what was happening.
The guy however? Well, he sounded quite sexy and nice, though his female voices were a bit cringe, still I did think he did a better job than the girl narrator.
Sorry again for the chaos, and I am sorry I didn't like this book. It seemed to be a book I would enjoy, I am really into new adult these days. Not only that, I always want to read books taking place at college/university. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be, but at least I tried. And maybe I would have liked it better if was a normal book.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/