All Played Out by Cora Carmack (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Also by this author: Roar
Published by Harper Collins on May 12th 2015
Genres: Coming of Age, Contemporary, Fiction, New Adult, Romance
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
First person in her family to go to college? CHECK.Straight A's? CHECK.On track to graduate early? CHECK.Social life? . . . Yeah, about that . . .With just a few weeks until graduation, Antonella DeLuca's beginning to worry that maybe she hasn't had the full college experience. (Scratch that. She knows she hasn't had the full college experience).So Nell does what she does best. She makes a "to do list" of normal college activities.Item #1? Hook up with a jock.Rusk University wide receiver Mateo Torres wrote the playbook for normal college living. When he's not on the field, he excels at partying, girls, and partying. As long as he keeps things light and easy, it's impossible to get hurt . . . again. But something about Nell gets under his skin, and when he learns about her list, he makes it his mission to help her complete it.Torres is the definition of confident (And sexy. And wild), and he opens up a side of Nell that she's never known. But as they begin to check off each crazy, exciting, normal item, Nell finds that her list leads to something more serious than she bargained for. And while Torres is used to taking risks on the field, he has to decide if he's willing to take the chance when it's more than just a game.
Nell DeLuca has spent her college days focused on classes and grades and making her family proud by being the first in her family to go to college. She’s graduating early and getting a head start on what comes next… but with her undergrad years coming to an end just around the corner, she can’t help but worry that maybe she’s missed out on getting the full college experience. In her last weeks of school she’s determined to make a bucket list of all the “normal” thing college kids do… and do them.
Football, girls and parties. Those are the things Mateo Torres has excelled at in his college years. He’s determined to keep things light and fun because there’s one thing he’s sure of … he’s not going to be hurt again. When he meets Nell, he’s instantly intrigued by this quiet, shy and completely fascinating girl. Then and there he decides it would be the right thing to help her check off all the things on her list.
I’m not entirely sure how Cora does it, but I seem to fall harder for each boy she gives us in this series… I was pretty sure I was a diehard #teamSilas girl but as soon as I started to get to know Mateo Torres I was done for. He’s so confident and charismatic and crazy and sexy and funny and sweet and just everything I love in my swoony guys. But he’s also secretly a little bit vulnerable and unsure and that endeared him even more to me. But lets go back to how he makes me laugh…
“I prefer to view that particular gift of mine in a positive light. More like… I cross lines no one else is willing to cross. I go where no man has gone before. All boldly and shit.”
Nell is probably my favorite female character Carmack has written. She’s slightly awkward and totally nerdy and so easily relatable that it’s practically impossible not to love her. But that’s not all… she’s smart and she’s fierce and she is determined to cross things off her list and that means going outside her comfort zone to do it and she does whole-heartedly.
The chemistry between these two was intense and passionate and so, so sexy.
“I use the hand at her neck to draw her a little closer, dipping my own head down at the same time. “So the question is,” I begin, “how much are you willing to give me, Nell?”
Her gaze flicks back and forth between my eyes, as if she might see something different in the left than the right. I draw a thumb over her bottom lip, pulling at it enough that I can feel the warm exhale of her breath on my skin. “This?” I ask her. “Can I have this?”
I lean down to take her mouth. The look in her eyes is response enough for me, but before I get there, she closes her lips over my thumb. The tentative slide of her tongue nearly brings me to my knees. Then she sucks at my finger, and just like that, she’s stolen the control right from under me.
I absolutely love that these two are complete and utter opposites…
Because Mateo Torres is loud, and I’m quiet. Because he’s reckless, and I’m cautious. Because he belongs everywhere, and I don’t.
BUT they make it work soooooo well! They balance each other out and you guys… the end. Well, the end was perfection.
One of my favorite things about this series is that it’s not all over-the-top drama and angst. I love that I can pick up Cora’s books and know that I’ll be engrossed in the story, that I’ll find myself smiling and laughing along at times, nodding and commiserating at others… and that I’ll totally fall in love with the characters that I’m reading about. To say I’m excited for Stella’s story would be a gross understatement… Let’s see if Cora can out do Mateo… my bet is on yes, but I’ll just have to wait and see!
About Cora Carmack
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. She is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Losing It series.
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