Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen

Year We Fell Down (Ivy Years, #1)

by Sarina Bowen

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.

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

5 of 5 stars

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Rating: 4.5 Stars (but I rounded up)

I really loved this book. Started it this morning and finished it this afternoon.

What's to love?
1. Corey - Here's a girl, who lost everything she loved: her sport, her freedom, her mobility, and sometimes, her dignity. But she bounced back, she returned from a crippling injury in less than a year, moved across the country from her family and started college. She had strength, courage, and fortitude that you had to admire.

2. Adam - He forged an unlikely friendship with Corey, and was able to really see her, not the girl in the chair, but the woman she was. He was loyal to his friends, his mother, and Corey. He also knew he had "sh*t to shovel". I appreciated his flaws and how he knew he had them.

3. The Harkness crew - Daniel, Bridger, Dana. Corey and Hartley had great friends and they enhanced the story.

I found myself smiling and sighing and crossing my fingers many times during this book, and I loved watching Adam and Corey's friendship grow and evolve over the course of this book.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 25 December, 2014: Finished reading
  • 25 December, 2014: Reviewed