Book Review: All Lined Up

All Lined Up (Rusk University #1)

By: Cora Carmack

Published By: William Morrow Paperbacks

Publication Date: May 13, 2014

Page Count: 320

Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound

Source: ARC Kindly Provided by Publisher via NetGalley

Audience: New Adult - Contemporary Romance

All Lined Up was everything I had hoped for! As is now usual for me with books by Cora Carmack, I read it in a day, and couldn't put it down! It was light, sexy and enticing... 

 All Lined Up tells the story of Dallas, who has spent her life trailing around after her father and his stellar career coaching high school American football. Her mother has never figured in her life, and as the only child of a football mad father, she has had a gut-full of it. Her hopes of escaping when she goes to college are dashed as her father gets recruited to improve the prospects of the college team. All she wants is to dance and have a life away from football, but her escape doesn't last for long when she meets Carson, a bench warming second string quarterback, struggling to make the first spot, earn a scholarship and make his folks' sacrifices worthwhile. Dallas struggles to reconcile her feelings about football with how she is drawn to Carson, and he faces his own dilemmas too; the girl, or everything he and his family have worked so hard for. 

I was a little concerned that I might not follow what was going on, being a Brit with no idea about American Football, but as it turned out, that wasn't an issue at all. Sure there were one or two bits when I wasn't 100% down with the terminology, but I've seen enough sports movies (Varsity Blues) and TV shows (Friday Night Lights) that I could imagine. Another potential concern for me was that All Lined Up might be too similar to Friday Night Lights - which is one of my favourite shows of all time. I needn't have worried. There were similar characters in one sense - the coach's daughter (Dallas/Julie), the underdog quarterback (Carson/Matt), a guy who was a player off and on the field (Silas/Tim Riggins) - but I found the similarities stopped there. The way these characters were fleshed out turned out to be very different and I enjoyed it. Forgive me though if I do picture Taylor Kitsch as Silas though.- there can never be enough Taylor K in my mind's eye! 

 I found it easy to relate to Dallas and Carson, and I liked how their flaws made them more real. I found it harder to imagine Dallas's dance routines than the football; I just imagined a chick going nuts jumping about like a lunatic, and it made me smile. 

 I found myself gradually sucked in by the story, until I was ready to wear the Rusk University shirt, "Bleed Rusk Red" and yell "No Easy Days" at the top of my lungs!! I am probably even more excited about this series than the Losing It series now, and I was fan girl crazy for those! There are so many options for what Cora can write about here. I, for one, am jiggling-in-my-seat-excited for a book about Silas!

Summary:

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.