Gossip and Football

All Lined Up (Rusk University #1) by Cora Carmack

I loved this book!  I have read most of Carmack’s works and the report on her books thus far, Losing It, I liked it, Faking It, I really liked it, Finding it, was pretty good.  But as I finish All Lined Up, all I can say is I loved this book!  I see concepts that I liked in the Losing It series but written with so much passion, love and feeling that it passes my “likes” with time warp speed.  All of that to say, I’ve liked all of her books, that’s just how good All Lined Up was in my opinion.

So, what makes this books so great?  First of all it’s the plot.  I love the brief background and the concept of history repeating itself right from the beginning.  Here is Dallas Cole, coach’s daughter moving to college and her dad just happens to get the coaching job at her new home, Rusk University.  Then this is also where her high school sweetheart Levi went when he graduated.  At the very beginning of the story we see where her fate is going in two different directions.  Will she go down the path to new beginnings where she meets new people, such as Carson McClain and isn’t always going to be known as the coach’s daughter?  Or will she take the  old road, where she’s destined to be talked about in the locker room and approached by strangers at the grocery story who want to talk about last week’s game or her dad?  The same road from high school where she is destined to date the old QB and be the same girl standing quietly next to Coach going to church every Sunday and doing what the good girl does?  Or do both paths lead to the same destination?  I think you’ll have to read it to find out!

I was a little confused by the geography of where her high school was and where her college is.  Did her dad have to move to a new town when he got hired at Rusk University?  Or is her high school and college in the same town she has been in for several years since her last move?  When Dallas moves back into her dad’s house I felt like it was the same house that she must have been in for high school, but she never talked about it with any emotion or longing for home.  And maybe… that is the genius of it.  Maybe none of her homes ever felt like home because of her feelings of always being second place behind football to her dad.

I absolutely loved the characters of this book.  I really enjoyed Stella.  She was an excellent role of a best friend.  She was fun loving and an enjoyable character, but didn’t overpower the scenes she was in.  I also liked Ryan and his role in the story.   Of course what kind of book would it be without a book boyfriend like Carson McClain?  He was an excellent character to read and know his side of the story.  It was an overall excellent story and a great book.  I can’t wait to keep reading in the series, up next is All Broke Down.  It’s not next on my TBR pile, but I hope to get to it soon!  Keep Reading my Friend!