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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
After an accident changes Corey Callahan's athletic career she starts college in a wheel chair. She expects it to be difficult but what she does not plan on is Adam Hartley. Hartley is injured and staying in the same Hall as Corey, but he has a girlfriend. It doesn't stop Corey and Hartley from becoming quick friends though but what happens when things change for Hartley. Can these two come together or are there too many obstacles in their path?
I liked this one it was a slow burn and I thought that Corey was inspiring. She had so many factors in her life that changed she could have easily crawled into herself but she pushed through. Hartley was wowza, has major charisma. Great read.
I liked this one it was a slow burn and I thought that Corey was inspiring. She had so many factors in her life that changed she could have easily crawled into herself but she pushed through. Hartley was wowza, has major charisma. Great read.
The Year We Fell Down was completely EPIC!
Once I started I couldn’t stop, this book had me in a trance. I needed to know what was going to happen next, it was thrilling and had me on an emotional roller coaster ride. You couldn’t help but fall for the characters, especially Adam. Once you hear their stories and know what they’ve been through, you’re just automatically connected to them.
I really recommend this book!♡
Once I started I couldn’t stop, this book had me in a trance. I needed to know what was going to happen next, it was thrilling and had me on an emotional roller coaster ride. You couldn’t help but fall for the characters, especially Adam. Once you hear their stories and know what they’ve been through, you’re just automatically connected to them.
I really recommend this book!♡
Audio Update 2019 -- This is definitely my favorite Sarina Bowen series so far. I do not have much luck when it comes to listening to NA books on audio. Somehow hearing some of the internal or external dialogue actually spoken out loud makes the characters border on sounding ridiculous. That is the case here as well. Nick Podehl and Saskia Maarleveld do a pretty good narrating this story, but I didn't like the narration as I liked reading the actual book. I also think that my reading tastes have changes in the last few years, so I didn't connect with this story at the same level as I did when I originally read it. I am way more irritated when authors make things easier for their leading men/women by having any men or women who might in the way of the main couple coming together be total tools. Hartley seemed like a terribly shallow and self-centered guy through his inability to break loose from his "girlfriend." His attachment to her was ridiculous. Still, it wasn't a bad audio book, and I'm keeping my original four star rating.
I've not had much good luck when it comes to finding good quality books in the New Adult genre. Too many cliched characters ... alpha males who treat women like dirt but then magically turn into these caring boyfriends, the good girl who gets the guy, and the bad girl who is hateful to everyone and receives horrible labels from the "good girl" and her neanderthal love interest. Too many books driven by salacious scenes without any actual plots. Unrealistic portrayals of what actual college life is like for the average person. etc. etc. etc. I just haven't been a big fan of this genre and have generally chosen to stay away from it. But after reading some very positive reviews of this story I decided to give it a try. I found a book that does have some of the cliched qualities that run rampant in NA lit but manages to overcome those with a story that is interesting, trials for the characters that are intriguing, and characters who are interesting despite some of their fit-in-the-box personalities. I really ended up liking this story.
I loved that the main character of the story, Corey, is struggling with a disability after a hockey injury leaves her mostly paralyzed from the waist down. Well ... I don't love that she has had this injury. I love the way that the story deals with the emotional and physical repercussions of that injury. For a girl who has been a star athlete for most of her life, the challenges and restrictions that come about due to her injury can be overwhelming and disheartening. She struggles with how the world views her now ... sometimes pity, sometimes overcompensation of feelings, but most often with simply being seen as a girl in a wheelchair instead of simply as a girl. Corey fears that no one will ever truly be able to see her for who she really is, and that is a hard thing to take. In addition there are physical limitations that make every day activities an ordeal. Stairs can make many activities we take for granted impossible for Corey. Throw her into a historic Eastern university with old, old historic buildings, and Corey's experience is going to be very different than the rest of her freshman class. I thought Corey was a great main character because she had tons of strength but also enough vulnerability to make her real and make me root for her to succeed in all that she wanted to do.
The hero of this story is Hartley, a college hockey player who has broken his leg severely enough that it has put him in a full leg cast for an entire semester, kept him from practicing with the team, and put him in what seems to be the only other handicapped accessible room on campus, right across from Corey. Hartley was an interesting character because in some ways he was a total tool. He and Corey had an amazing friendship. He saw her as a person. It was easy to see how she could fall in love with him for the wonderful way he treated her. Their relationship was so easy. His actions so much of the time were just beautiful. I really liked him ... except for his ridiculous relationship with Stacia. It made little sense. Hartley explains that he is in this relationship with this horrible girl because she is beautiful and she is rich and for some reason this beautiful, rich girl loves him, so he feels like King of the World. Even when it is obvious that she is gallivanting across Europe with some Italian heartthrob, Hartley stays true to her and remains only friends with Corey. It makes Hartley out to be completely shallow, and do you know what? He is. There is no other way to explain his actions. They are truly shallow. Irritating. But they do sort of show a man who is not perfect, someone who is holding onto something wrong because he thinks it will make him happy when true happiness is literally right across the hall from him. It takes him awhile, but he does redeem himself.
Stacia was the weakest part of this book. She was your basic cookie cutter bad girl ... self involved, hateful, uncaring, obtuse, unfaithful. Pick a bad quality. Sarina Brown gave it to her. It sure made it easy to root for Corey and see how stupid Hartley was for sticking with Stacia, but she was soooooo cliched and boring. Characters like that come from lazy writing. It's so easy to create someone that is totally awful. It is more interesting and more realistic to create someone who may be incompatible, but who is a whole person with a good amount of good qualities to go along with her bad ones. Toward the end of the book Stacia seems to become a little more layered, but overall I would say that her character is an example of a lot that I don't like about books in this genre.
On the other side is Dana, Corey's roommate. I LOVED her. She is the kind of roommate I wish for all of my children. She has her own life, so she isn't just a carbon copy of Corey, but she is supportive and kind and does what she can to help Corey have a successful experience as a freshman student. She recognizes that Corey is in a wheelchair, but she doesn't let that define her relationship with her.
I was super happy with the way this story played out. When Hartley finally decides to pull his head out of the ground and SEE what is in front of him it is super duper sweet. I'll still be hesitant to grab a book from this genre, but at least in this case I have found a nice story that made me smile and seemed a bit deeper than others. Four stars!
I've not had much good luck when it comes to finding good quality books in the New Adult genre. Too many cliched characters ... alpha males who treat women like dirt but then magically turn into these caring boyfriends, the good girl who gets the guy, and the bad girl who is hateful to everyone and receives horrible labels from the "good girl" and her neanderthal love interest. Too many books driven by salacious scenes without any actual plots. Unrealistic portrayals of what actual college life is like for the average person. etc. etc. etc. I just haven't been a big fan of this genre and have generally chosen to stay away from it. But after reading some very positive reviews of this story I decided to give it a try. I found a book that does have some of the cliched qualities that run rampant in NA lit but manages to overcome those with a story that is interesting, trials for the characters that are intriguing, and characters who are interesting despite some of their fit-in-the-box personalities. I really ended up liking this story.
I loved that the main character of the story, Corey, is struggling with a disability after a hockey injury leaves her mostly paralyzed from the waist down. Well ... I don't love that she has had this injury. I love the way that the story deals with the emotional and physical repercussions of that injury. For a girl who has been a star athlete for most of her life, the challenges and restrictions that come about due to her injury can be overwhelming and disheartening. She struggles with how the world views her now ... sometimes pity, sometimes overcompensation of feelings, but most often with simply being seen as a girl in a wheelchair instead of simply as a girl. Corey fears that no one will ever truly be able to see her for who she really is, and that is a hard thing to take. In addition there are physical limitations that make every day activities an ordeal. Stairs can make many activities we take for granted impossible for Corey. Throw her into a historic Eastern university with old, old historic buildings, and Corey's experience is going to be very different than the rest of her freshman class. I thought Corey was a great main character because she had tons of strength but also enough vulnerability to make her real and make me root for her to succeed in all that she wanted to do.
The hero of this story is Hartley, a college hockey player who has broken his leg severely enough that it has put him in a full leg cast for an entire semester, kept him from practicing with the team, and put him in what seems to be the only other handicapped accessible room on campus, right across from Corey. Hartley was an interesting character because in some ways he was a total tool. He and Corey had an amazing friendship. He saw her as a person. It was easy to see how she could fall in love with him for the wonderful way he treated her. Their relationship was so easy. His actions so much of the time were just beautiful. I really liked him ... except for his ridiculous relationship with Stacia. It made little sense. Hartley explains that he is in this relationship with this horrible girl because she is beautiful and she is rich and for some reason this beautiful, rich girl loves him, so he feels like King of the World. Even when it is obvious that she is gallivanting across Europe with some Italian heartthrob, Hartley stays true to her and remains only friends with Corey. It makes Hartley out to be completely shallow, and do you know what? He is. There is no other way to explain his actions. They are truly shallow. Irritating. But they do sort of show a man who is not perfect, someone who is holding onto something wrong because he thinks it will make him happy when true happiness is literally right across the hall from him. It takes him awhile, but he does redeem himself.
Stacia was the weakest part of this book. She was your basic cookie cutter bad girl ... self involved, hateful, uncaring, obtuse, unfaithful. Pick a bad quality. Sarina Brown gave it to her. It sure made it easy to root for Corey and see how stupid Hartley was for sticking with Stacia, but she was soooooo cliched and boring. Characters like that come from lazy writing. It's so easy to create someone that is totally awful. It is more interesting and more realistic to create someone who may be incompatible, but who is a whole person with a good amount of good qualities to go along with her bad ones. Toward the end of the book Stacia seems to become a little more layered, but overall I would say that her character is an example of a lot that I don't like about books in this genre.
On the other side is Dana, Corey's roommate. I LOVED her. She is the kind of roommate I wish for all of my children. She has her own life, so she isn't just a carbon copy of Corey, but she is supportive and kind and does what she can to help Corey have a successful experience as a freshman student. She recognizes that Corey is in a wheelchair, but she doesn't let that define her relationship with her.
I was super happy with the way this story played out. When Hartley finally decides to pull his head out of the ground and SEE what is in front of him it is super duper sweet. I'll still be hesitant to grab a book from this genre, but at least in this case I have found a nice story that made me smile and seemed a bit deeper than others. Four stars!
Hermoso. Cute. Me gustó mucho este libro. Not a lot of drama. Simple y hermoso. Como se superan obstaculos en la vida. Me encantó la amistad que hubo entre los personajes. Wiii <3
3.5/4 stars.
At first, I was a little bored with the story and the characters, but once the story progressed I came to like Corey and Adam. I wasn't sure there was going to be character development because I felt like it rushed into the story a little to quickly and I didn't get to connect with the characters or come to like them. But, regardless of that, I came to like the story and the characters throughout the book.
I decided to pick up this book because it was a sports book and it was a girl who played ice hockey, even though she had a career ending injury. I also wanted to read it because I'm currently injured and can't play basketball, so I wanted to see if there was anything relatable, which there was.
But anyways, it was a cute little read. The characters are so cute and loving.
At first, I was a little bored with the story and the characters, but once the story progressed I came to like Corey and Adam. I wasn't sure there was going to be character development because I felt like it rushed into the story a little to quickly and I didn't get to connect with the characters or come to like them. But, regardless of that, I came to like the story and the characters throughout the book.
I decided to pick up this book because it was a sports book and it was a girl who played ice hockey, even though she had a career ending injury. I also wanted to read it because I'm currently injured and can't play basketball, so I wanted to see if there was anything relatable, which there was.
But anyways, it was a cute little read. The characters are so cute and loving.
3,5 sterren. Leest zo lekker weg, fijn dat het draait om iemand in een rolstoel en Hartley was gewoon ❤️ heel benieuwd naar het volgende deel!
2.5 stars. This had so much promise! But there is a part in the middle between the H and h that really just left a sour taste in my mouth that was hard to come back from.
this was so funny and very wholesome
LISTEN I appreciate that the lead female character is disabled and we’re getting representation of an ambulatory wheelchair user in college and what that’s like however the number of times gimp was used made me uncomfy (and again, listen, I know it was written in 2014) I just wish the language was updated or something, personally. That’s just my personal preference. I rated this so low bc this is a cheating story. He has a girlfriend for like 85% of the book and cheats on her after she cheats on him … and no that’s not an excuse to cheat just because your partner did. Fuck that.
LOVE the heroine in a wheelchair -- her struggle felt incredibly real and sympathetic. She was wonderful. The hero was charming and sexy, but honestly I didn't really buy the backstory of why he stayed with his awful girlfriend for half the book. He had a dark secrets backstory but he also seemed to a) not like her very much and b) be totally aware that he didn't like her very much. It didn't ruin the actual romance for me, but I got to the end feeling like he was a little bit of a douche. (But then, I think 'douche' can be a great romantic characteristic for a guy in a romance, if he owns it and reforms, which he did.)