Review: I loved Ryan Carter in Rush Me! He is officially my new book boyfriend!!!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 10, 2013
I loved this book!  I happened to see this book by chance a couple of weeks before it was released and figured I'd give it a shot.  I absolutely love a good sports romance, especially hockey based romance books.  This was the first book I have read by Allison Parr, and if my research is correct I believe it was the first romance book she has written.  The book has an amazing hero and heroine, wonderfully developed secondary characters, a plot that keeps your attention, and a lesson taught by the characters.  I am really hoping that since she took the time to introduce a lot of the other football players on the team so well, that she is planning on making this book into a series.Rachel is a 23 year old beautiful book nerd, who hasn't had the best of luck with men.  She was picked on all throughout high school.  We find out in the beginning of the book that her five year high school reunion is coming up in a couple of months by Sophie, her brother's new girlfriend and her arch enemy in high school.  Rachel interns at a publishing company in New York, as well as temping at other companies, and barely makes ends meat with the help of her savings account.  Her parents are well off and are constantly showing her disappointment in her choice of occupation.John and I hadn’t exactly dated. I mean, I’d thought we’d been dating, but it turned out I was just the third wheel in his open relationship.-RachelI loved Ryan Carter.  He is hot, possessive, dominant, snarky, and the quarterback for the New York Leopards.  We first meet him in a very intimate encounter at the party Rachel crashes.  Ryan has a bit of a scarred past, but not enough to take the book to a sad, overly emotional feeling.  He just has some things he likes to keep private in his life.  He comes across as an jerk in the beginning, but then we slowly start to see another side to him.“Oh, please. “Do you treat everyone who doesn’t recognize you like this?”His voice was flat. “Everyone recognizes me.”“Oh, gosh, I’m sorry. Do they genuflect, too?”I already feel a connection with Rachel because she is a book nerd, like most of us romance readers out there.  She sees reading as a form of art and appreciates it so much that she decides to make a career out of it in publishing making little or no money.  From the beginning of the book you can see that Rachel is prejudiced about jocks because of how she was treated in high school by them.  She has a preconceived notion that all athletes are brainless Neanderthals.  What I love about this book is the fact that the author shows her as judgmental of athletes in the beginning of the novel, but slowly we can see how Rachel starts to learn just how wrong she was for judging athletes based on their choice of occupation.  The author actually teaches us something about the derogatory way people are referred to as jocks and nerds and how those words can be hurtful and completely wrong.  She shows us that you can't always judge a book by it's cover."I like intellectual types. You know—people who went to college for academics, rather than coasting through on a football scholarship.”His brows slammed together, and understanding spread through me. That was his weak spot. “You think you’re a hell of lot smarter than me, don’t you?”“It’s not your fault—I’m sure getting knocked on the head all the time messes with your grey matter.”He shook his head, incredulous. “You’re kind of a bitch.”“At least I’m not a professional Neanderthal.”“Yeah, and I’m afraid you’re going to remain a nerd.”-Ryan“It’s not his entire world.” She picked her words carefully. “Some of the guys, you can’t imagine them doing anything else, but Ryan... Sometimes I think he could have done anything. Maybe that’s why he likes you, because you’re something different.”-Briana“But watching these people, their glowing faces and their unifying gestures made the game’s significance hit home, and I was struck by a fierce pride for Ryan. Not that he was mine to be proud of.”-RachelI loved all the other football players as well, especially the Jewish rookie, Abe.  They connected with Rachel in a surprising way and took her on almost as a little sister and one of the guys.  Allison Parr really took the time to develop each and every on of the secondary characters you meet in this book without it getting to be too tedious.  I really enjoyed the many times Rachel and her friends (the "nerds") and Ryan and his friends (the "jocks") hung out together like the best of friends.  The banter between all the guys was hilarious.  You really feel like you are a part of the group when they all get together."He’s twenty-one years old. You’re not going to take advantage of him. Is that your game? Is that why you were really in Malcolm’s bedroom the other day?” With each question, he hemmed me in against the wall. Anger sharpened the planes of his face."Ryan reamed me out about letting you pay for dinner last time.” He sounded like a sad puppy. He perked up immediately afterward. “So I already ordered everything! And it’s being catered, too.When Ryan and Rachel start to fall in love, you can really see the attitude and sass between them start to melt away to show their vulnerability.  These two characters are tough as nails on the outside, but on the inside they are both scared to put themselves out there.  They both have one other quality that becomes a huge obstical in their relationship, they are both stubborn as hell.  They also have a bad habit of saying things to hurt each other when they are angry.  A couple of the comments they said to each other had my emotions in such turmoil for their pain, I was near to tears."Is this a game?"-Ryan“Because I don’t think I could deal with that.”-Rachel“Why would it be a game?”If he hadn’t mangled the sound so badly, it would have been a laugh. “Because I never know where I stand with you. Because each time I make a move you turn it down. And then the one time I do nothing, you kiss me, and now I don’t know what you want.”Say nothing, that little voice whispered, huddled safe behind its thick walls, scared of the hurt outside. Say you want to be friends.Shut up, I told the voice, raising my chin. My voice came out huskier than I’d intended. “I want you."“You know, maybe that’s the reason you play so coy.” I stopped, confused by the cruel hint in his voice. “Because as soon as anyone lands you in bed they find out what a freak you are.”I give this book a solid 4 Stars and recommend it to not only all of you out there who just love bad boy sports themed romances, but also to those who enjoy a good story with a little bit of a lesson in the background.  It's a wonderful book filled with funny as well as heart breaking moments that ends with a few surprises, as well as a couple of happy endings.Memorable Quotes:“You only get hurt that badly when you’re doing something that matters. Something impossible. Taking a risk. Investing yourself. And ball’s worth it, the rush you get, the exhilaration... It’s worth a couple injuries.”-Ryan“Actually, that’s the problem with all of them. They all want to date the quarterback.”For a moment, I stood silently, taking that in. “Well, I don’t want to date your uniform.”He laughed. “Yeah, I noticed.”"I want to date you.”"It’s funny. How good we get at torturing the people we love the most.”-Briana