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A review by lcmarie19
All Played Out by Cora Carmack
3.0
RATING: 3.5 STARS
*This book was given to me in exchange for my honest review**
Another solid effort by Carmack. I had a good experience with this third installment of the Rusk University series. Unfortunately, I didn't love this one as much as I loved the first two, but I am still a big fan of the series.
ALL PLAYED OUT follows Antonella "Nell" DeLuca and her recently developed fixation on obtaining the full college experience. Nell is a very straight laced girl, who's always done what was expected of her. She's extremely smart and has a very simple social life of...nothing. So, throughout this book, she is seeking to change that.
In her journey to obtain a decent social life, she encounters some familiar characters that readers know and love (from the previous books), but the one that catches her eye -- to her surprise and constant resistance -- is Mateo Torres, the wide receive for the RU football team. Torres, being the wild party guy, finds Nell to be someone he hasn't experienced before. But together they learn that opposites really can attract.
This was classic romantic comedy in book form -- Girl meets boy, girl resists boy, boy teases and chases girl, girl gives into boy, boy hurts girl, girl forgives boy, and they live happily ever after. One thing that I can always count on when it comes to Cora's books is that they read like a film in my head. That's one of things that I enjoy about her books. I can easily picture what's going on with each character. That fact remains true with this book.
The book progresses quickly and smoothly. There's tons of character interaction. I'm reunited with characters that I fell in love with in previous books. Dylan and Silas. Stella reappears and even Dallas and Carson get a few mentions. It was all very fun to see those character names again. While I had my good times with Nell and Torres, I kept finding myself wondering what was going on with Silas and Dylan or Stella or even Dallas and Carson. I was never fully invested in Nell and Torres, to my unfortunate surprise.
While I can appreciate what Cora was trying to do in giving us characters like Nell, I just didn't connect with her like I did Dallas. Or like with Dylan. Nell's character wasn't as tangible to me. Torres, though a fun guy, was a bit one dimensional for a lot of the book. I didn't feel the development of his character was as solid as Carson's was. Or even Silas'. Thus making it difficult for me to see how he and Nell worked together. I just wasn't able to get on board with these two as quickly as I usually am with that other characters.
Every now and then, I would find a scene in the book that I connected with, like when Torres and Nell got to finally sit down together and just get to know one another. THOSE were my favorite scenes. I needed more of that in this book. I feel that given how extreme both Nell and Torres were, with Nell being the classic "girl genius with no social life" and Torres being the "wild party guy", they needed more one on one personal bonding in order for me to believe that their relationship was as solid as it was by the end of the book. There was more sex and less intimacy, in my opinion. And I think that's what I was missing in this installment.
BUT with that being said, I loved being in the RU world again. It was familiar but different. Cora was a little more bold and descriptive in her writing. Especially when it came to the sexy times between our two main characters. Not that I minded. I got hit of my favorite Cora writing in this one, but I was missing the overall essence of books one and two.
I don't want to sound like I didn't enjoy the book, because I did. I just know that book one touched me deeply, book two shared that same essence, but book three just kind of screamed fluffy fun. The amount of depth that could have been in this book, just wasn't there this time. In my opinion. And that's okay. It happens. Still love this series! I can't wait for book four!
*This book was given to me in exchange for my honest review**
Another solid effort by Carmack. I had a good experience with this third installment of the Rusk University series. Unfortunately, I didn't love this one as much as I loved the first two, but I am still a big fan of the series.
ALL PLAYED OUT follows Antonella "Nell" DeLuca and her recently developed fixation on obtaining the full college experience. Nell is a very straight laced girl, who's always done what was expected of her. She's extremely smart and has a very simple social life of...nothing. So, throughout this book, she is seeking to change that.
In her journey to obtain a decent social life, she encounters some familiar characters that readers know and love (from the previous books), but the one that catches her eye -- to her surprise and constant resistance -- is Mateo Torres, the wide receive for the RU football team. Torres, being the wild party guy, finds Nell to be someone he hasn't experienced before. But together they learn that opposites really can attract.
This was classic romantic comedy in book form -- Girl meets boy, girl resists boy, boy teases and chases girl, girl gives into boy, boy hurts girl, girl forgives boy, and they live happily ever after. One thing that I can always count on when it comes to Cora's books is that they read like a film in my head. That's one of things that I enjoy about her books. I can easily picture what's going on with each character. That fact remains true with this book.
The book progresses quickly and smoothly. There's tons of character interaction. I'm reunited with characters that I fell in love with in previous books. Dylan and Silas. Stella reappears and even Dallas and Carson get a few mentions. It was all very fun to see those character names again. While I had my good times with Nell and Torres, I kept finding myself wondering what was going on with Silas and Dylan or Stella or even Dallas and Carson. I was never fully invested in Nell and Torres, to my unfortunate surprise.
While I can appreciate what Cora was trying to do in giving us characters like Nell, I just didn't connect with her like I did Dallas. Or like with Dylan. Nell's character wasn't as tangible to me. Torres, though a fun guy, was a bit one dimensional for a lot of the book. I didn't feel the development of his character was as solid as Carson's was. Or even Silas'. Thus making it difficult for me to see how he and Nell worked together. I just wasn't able to get on board with these two as quickly as I usually am with that other characters.
Every now and then, I would find a scene in the book that I connected with, like when Torres and Nell got to finally sit down together and just get to know one another. THOSE were my favorite scenes. I needed more of that in this book. I feel that given how extreme both Nell and Torres were, with Nell being the classic "girl genius with no social life" and Torres being the "wild party guy", they needed more one on one personal bonding in order for me to believe that their relationship was as solid as it was by the end of the book. There was more sex and less intimacy, in my opinion. And I think that's what I was missing in this installment.
BUT with that being said, I loved being in the RU world again. It was familiar but different. Cora was a little more bold and descriptive in her writing. Especially when it came to the sexy times between our two main characters. Not that I minded. I got hit of my favorite Cora writing in this one, but I was missing the overall essence of books one and two.
I don't want to sound like I didn't enjoy the book, because I did. I just know that book one touched me deeply, book two shared that same essence, but book three just kind of screamed fluffy fun. The amount of depth that could have been in this book, just wasn't there this time. In my opinion. And that's okay. It happens. Still love this series! I can't wait for book four!