Cora Carmack Books: The Dos and Don'ts of College, According to Dallas and Stella

With each hour that passes, we're just a little bit closer to May 13th, a.k.a the release day for All Lined Up, a.k.a. Cora is freaking out/imploding from excitement and/or nervousness.

If this is the first you've heard of All Lined Up, learn more about it on Goodreads. You can also read the first thirty-four pages HERE. And if you need a little bit more motivation, pre-order ALU and register here and you'll receive a BRAND NEW Garrick and Bliss scene post Losing It/Keeping Her! EVEN BETTER... you can now order your own signed paperback from Word Bookstore and get it on release day!

You've already met our heroine Dallas Cole and her best friend Stella Santos, and you may be wondering "How do two people who are so very different manage to stay friends?" Dallas and Stella are basically poster children for the old saying, "Opposites Attract." Dallas is shy and awkward with a side of I-Hate-Everything. Stella is the life of the party, and nothing gets her down. When Dallas is all like,

Stella's all like,

But they make it work, because they understand when it's okay to push each other's buttons and when it's better to take a wide berth. They soften each other, and pull each other away from their more extreme tendencies. Stella can get so wrapped up in the idea of having fun that she forgets about consequences or just pretends they don't exist. Dallas is a little too constricted and a bit of a pessimist, and needs to loosen up. And so they've come up with a system for helping each other out of their comfort zones. It's actually loosely based on a system I had with a very dear friend. I'll let you guess whether I was the awkward or the wild one. Like there's any doubt there.

Here's a little snippet from the book to explain their system:

We have this rule, something that’s helped us stay friends despite

how completely polar opposite our personalities are. It’s a

system of give and take, wherein I temper her crazy side and she

forces me to live a little.

When Stella showed up to take the SATs drunk, she got the

Dallas Cole Don’t- Be- A- Douche Stamp of Disapproval. It was my

non- nagging way of telling her that she’d gone too far. And though

there wasn’t much to do about it that Saturday, Stella signed up to

take the test again, and when the next testing day rolled around,

she was sober and serious and pulled off a decent score.

Alternately, there is the Stella Santos Suck- It- Up- You- Prude

Stamp of Approval. That stamp has gotten me into more trouble

than I care to list, including Stella’s brilliant idea to wrap a house with

toilet paper and stick maxi pads to the glass front door. What her

plan didn’t include was the knowledge that said house belonged to a

policeman, who was not keen on being an advertisement for Kotex.

The stamps are a staple of their friendship, and no matter what... when a stamp is issued, you can't say no.

With that in mind, I'd like to present to you all The Dos and Don'ts of College, According to Dallas and Stella! See what gets approved and disapproved by our besties!

#1: 8 A.M. Psychology? You should...