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A review by melbsreads
All Played Out by Cora Carmack
3.0
I have a complicated relationship with new adult books. Periodically, my brain informs me that WE DESPERATELY NEED TO READ A NEW ADULT BOOK, PLEASE AND THANK YOU. And yet whenever I read new adult books, I inevitably find myself eternally frustrated over the way that the romantic relationships are written or the fact that there ALWAYS seems to be a secondary female character who gets raped by some douchenozzle and it's used as a way of furthering the storyline for a male character??
But I digress.
This one has been sitting on my Kindle for months now, just waiting for my brain to tell me that it was new adult time, thank you very much. And as far as the plot goes, I quite enjoyed this one. The gist of it is that Nell is about to graduate from college two years early thanks to overloading when she realises that she's never had, like, ANY of the traditional college experiences. And she decides to spend her last couple of months rectifying that. And when football player Mateo finds out about the to-do list she's made, he's determined to help out.
I liked Nell as a character. She's very shy, prone to blushing, incredibly studious, and constantly worried that she's making the right choices. Nell, girl, I can relate. Mateo was...generally sweet with Nell? And I loved that this book featured a Latino love interest.
However.
I could have done without being inside his head. There's a limit to how many times you can read "OMG HER TITS ARE AMAZING *heart eyes emoji*" without wanting to smack your head into a wall. Also, I don't think he went to class once. At all. Ever. Like, he went to a bunch of parties. And to football training. And played a handful of games. But class? Nah.
There were also occasionally some slightly cringey moments in the writing. The one that stands out the most was something about how Mateo had Nell's hands pinned while he "continued the assault on my neck". And yeeeeeah, maybe don't use the words "pinned" and "assault" that close together and expect your reader to find it hot? Because it wasn't. It was just...uncomfortable.
So yeah. It was fine. It was occasionally cute. It had a Latino love interest, so bonus points for that. I'll be veeeeeeeery interested to read Stella and Ryan's story when it eventually happens. But that's about it. (Also, the dudes in new adult books need to stop literally tearing their love interest's underwear off them. That shit is expensive, you ass.)
But I digress.
This one has been sitting on my Kindle for months now, just waiting for my brain to tell me that it was new adult time, thank you very much. And as far as the plot goes, I quite enjoyed this one. The gist of it is that Nell is about to graduate from college two years early thanks to overloading when she realises that she's never had, like, ANY of the traditional college experiences. And she decides to spend her last couple of months rectifying that. And when football player Mateo finds out about the to-do list she's made, he's determined to help out.
I liked Nell as a character. She's very shy, prone to blushing, incredibly studious, and constantly worried that she's making the right choices. Nell, girl, I can relate. Mateo was...generally sweet with Nell? And I loved that this book featured a Latino love interest.
However.
I could have done without being inside his head. There's a limit to how many times you can read "OMG HER TITS ARE AMAZING *heart eyes emoji*" without wanting to smack your head into a wall. Also, I don't think he went to class once. At all. Ever. Like, he went to a bunch of parties. And to football training. And played a handful of games. But class? Nah.
There were also occasionally some slightly cringey moments in the writing. The one that stands out the most was something about how Mateo had Nell's hands pinned while he "continued the assault on my neck". And yeeeeeah, maybe don't use the words "pinned" and "assault" that close together and expect your reader to find it hot? Because it wasn't. It was just...uncomfortable.
So yeah. It was fine. It was occasionally cute. It had a Latino love interest, so bonus points for that. I'll be veeeeeeeery interested to read Stella and Ryan's story when it eventually happens. But that's about it. (Also, the dudes in new adult books need to stop literally tearing their love interest's underwear off them. That shit is expensive, you ass.)