The Year We Fell Down

De: Sarina Bowen

Narrado por: Nick Podehl, Saskia Maarleveld

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 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 that does not revolve around the sport she can no longer play or the brown-eyed boy who's afraid to love her back.

©2014 Sarina Bowen (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Beautiful story, Wish It Were Longer

This is a beautiful story about two people falling in love. One of them happens to be permanently disabled. Sarina Bowen does an amazing job of making Corey a fully realized person who isn't solely defined by her disability.

The Year We Fell Down is your typical romance novel structure: they become friends, but can't be together, even though they are both super beautiful and into hockey and he has a terrible girlfriend! Hartley is a great book boyfriend. I like how Bowen wove disability issues into the story, especially as it comes to sex and intimacy. The prose was surprisingly beautiful as well, and Bowen's stories are always slightly elevated from the normal trashy romance fare. The sexy parts were intimate and loving, just what we all wish sex was always like.

I like the readers, they weren't the typical voices you hear. Some people don't like Saskia Maarleveld because she sounds too mature for an 18 year old girl. I agree that she does sound too mature, but it's kind of a hard balance for a narrator. She has to be able to pull off both male and female voice registers, so in order to do justice to the male voices, she likely needs a lower natural pitch. Nick was great though and he was really good at making all the voices different among men and women. He brought Bowen's words to life with great character. A weird pet peeve of mine is when narrators don't DO something that's described before dialogue. For example, if it says, "I cleared my throat and said, "Well yes thank you." Nick actually CLEARS HIS THROAT. I know it's silly, but I liked that as someone with a drama background.

I think romance fans will enjoy this book and the series is good so far. I love Bowen's work, even though we're dealing with very young people here and I'm a 39 year old woman with two kids (LMAO). If you are older like me, definitely read her True North series. All the great characters, interesting social issues, and steamy romance you've come to expect from Sarina Bowen's work.

Another great story by Sarina Bowen!

I really enjoyed this friends to lovers storyline. Callahan and Hartley become fast friends while navigating through similar traumas. While they both have crap to shovel, per se, their chemistry begins to smolder. I was captivated from beginning to end and can’t wait to listen to Bridger’s story.

Great story, great narration

If you like real people in real situations, humor, good friends and some unexpected events you too will love this story.

New Favorite Author!!!

Omg this was THE BEST read. As soon as I realized the main character was in a wheelchair my mouth dropped open and I got giddy. I love when authors are able to take real-life situations like that and write a wonderful story. I’m not paralyzed myself but I think we need more books that are relatable to people who live with handicaps or are fighting cancer or other life-altering hardships, etc.
The character development and overall growth of each person throughout the book was superb. The story was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and I fell in love with the main character. The writing was flawless and had so much depth. I am beyond impressed with this author and I will absolutely be spending my credits on her other books! Amazing!!!!

About the narrators: Nick’s voice is kinda more aggressive than I cared for but I think he did a great job of sounding like a college student. I adore Saskia’s voice and she’s the reason I got the audiobook version. I will say though that she sounds a lot older than a first-year college student, while Nick’s impression of Cory’s voice was actually a more accurate representation of a girl that age. His impression did not match Saskia’s voice at ALL, and it was confusing at times. Otherwise, I have no complaints.

The Year We Fell Down

Such an awesome and sweet story! I’m very glad I found this author. It was unique. It’s sweetness brought me to tears.

Cute

En verdad me gusto mucho la actuación, me gusta la honestidad de la historia y cómo crece la relación entre los personajes.

very good book

this is not the one of he front of the mill story where boy meets girl boy and girl fall in love have a problem and then get together in the end. this story speaks on handicaps and emotional issues. I highly recommend it.

Love this series

Another excellent story from Sarina Bowen. I've read/listened this series all out of order and will now go back and listen to hem in the right order. I love the whispersync option with this series.

Surprising

Ms Bowen has wonderful character development and a believable storyline. This book is NOT pulp fiction or a read and forget romance, but a moving drama with a touch of quirky humor. Well done.

Loved it

I loved the story so much. It had me from the very beginning. Those are the kind of books and love. There was just enough to it. It did, however have me wanting to know more like when they’re grown up. But that’s not an author problem it’s just me wanting more which is a great thing. Narration was awesome.