Review of The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen

Posted November 28, 2014 by Cassy Witthar in Reviews / 0 Comments

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The sport she loves is out of reach. The boy she loves has someone else.

What now?

She expected to start Harkness College as a varsity ice hockey player. But a serious accident means that Corey Callahan will start school in a wheelchair instead.

Across the hall, in the other handicapped-accessible dorm room, lives the too-delicious-to-be real Adam Hartley, another would-be hockey star with his leg broken in two places. He’s way out of Corey’s league.

Also, he’s taken.

Nevertheless, an unlikely alliance blooms between Corey and Hartley in the “gimp ghetto” of McHerrin Hall. Over tequila, perilously balanced dining hall trays, and video games, the two cope with disappointments that nobody else understands.

They’re just friends, of course, until one night when things fall apart. Or fall together. All Corey knows is that she’s falling. Hard.

But will Hartley set aside his trophy girl to love someone as broken as Corey? If he won’t, she will need to find the courage to make a life for herself at Harkness — one which does not revolve around the sport she can no longer play, or the brown-eyed boy who’s afraid to love her back.

The Author

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Sarina Bowen writes steamy, angsty Contemporary Romance and New Adult fiction from the wilds of Vermont.

She is the author of The Ivy Years, an award-winning series set amid the hockey team at an elite Connecticut college.

Waiting for more Ivy Years? You can read more about upcoming volumes in the four book series at http://www.sarinabowen.com/theivyyears

Also, Coming in From the Cold, published by Harlequin-E, is book #1 in the Gravity series. Book #2, Falling From the Sky will appear in the fall of 2014.

Sarina enjoys skiing, espresso drinks and the occasional margarita. She lives with her family, eight chickens and more ski gear and hockey equipment than seems necessary.

To be kept abreast of new releases, please feel free to sign up for the mailing list at http://www.sarinabowen.com/contact.

Or visit the her Facebook page, or tweet her @sarinabowen.

review

Christina’s Review:

The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen

5 stars

Not expected, but oh so refreshing

First, let me start by saying that I don’t hand out 5 starswithout a very good reason. This story/book encompasses so many amazing valuesthat it’s hard NOT to reward it with the proper review. If I could give it morestars I would. Ok, so lets get down to it….

Every now and then I like to be surprised by a book,therefore, I didn’t even read the blurb on this one. Shoot, I STILL haven’tread it. Needless to say, boy was I shockedwhen, right off the bat in the first chapter, we meet a young girl in college(Corey) who is trying to come to terms with a new disability. The day she movesin to her college dorm, she meets her neighbor, Hartley, who is also adaptingto his new injury.

Since I haven’t read the blurb and don’t want to spoilanything, I’ll just say that I thought the story would proceed like any otherYA Romance novel – girl meets boy, boy notices girl, BAM, they fall in love.Nope, not quite that easy. There is more depth in this story than meets theeye.

I read this a week prior to Thanksgiving. You know, the timeof year that we’re supposed to be “thankful” for all that we have, etc… Icouldn’t have read this book at a better time. In fact, there’s even a Thanksgivingscene (moralistically awesome). This Author has managed to mix tragedy, love,morals and pretty much, every other emotion you can think of in ONE book! Doyou know how hard that it is to do…successfully?

You know those books that you read that you just can’t stopthinking about? Yep, this is one of them. The things that happen in this storyrun emotionally deep for me. I’m a Mother, I have a ridiculously, perhapsunhealthy, love of sports (ALL KINDS) and I understand, maybe too well, what amixture of self doubt, new surroundings and young love feel like. But Idigress…

I have not only fallen love with the main characters, Coreyand Hartley, the supporting characters, Dana, Daniel, Bridger, etc…but thisAuthor. Congratulations on a wonderfully thought out story, you have a new fan.

*I was given a copy of this book as a gift from Stephanie’sBook Reports in
exchange for an honest review.

5star

Kacey’s Review:

The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen

Five stars:

When I started this book I was in a bit of a book funk, nothing was keeping my attention. So I thought, this is a bit different from what I had been reading so I would give it a try. From the moment I started reading, it captured my attention. I didn’t want to put it down.

In The Year We Fell Down, you meet Corey who planned on starting college her freshman year as a varsity hokey player and Adam Hartley who is the gorgeous boy across the hall, they both have been injured in accidents. Adam with broken his leg and Corey with her more permanent spinal injury and in a wheelchair. They are both on the sidelines and not playing the sport they love. The two get to know each other and develop a strong bond and friendship; they end up in the “gimp” section at the college dorm where they learn to help each other through their injuries. Corey is an amazingly strong character but still shows her vulnerable side. Hartley appears to be a fun loving, no worries guy but as his character develops you see that he is struggling with his past.

Hartley looks at Corey as one of his jock friends and isn’t quite ready to give up on his high class girlfriend Stacia who has left for the semester to study abroad. Corey tries not to fall for her friend across the hall who she feels is way out of her league. But as the year progresses they both start to realize that their friendship is much more. You see both characters develop and mature through their year at college.

This story was refreshing, much different than the books I had been reading. Not the cookie cutter romance. You see the struggles and emotional turmoil these two faced throughout the book dealing with their injuries as well as their growing feeling for each other. I fell in love with these characters and can’t wait to read more of their story.

**I was given a copy of this book from Stephanie’s Book Reports in exchange for an honest review**

5star

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