Rushed - Gina Robinson

A girl who has everything. A guy who has everything to lose.

Some things can't be…

RUSHED

Alexis
Like there has ever been any doubt which sorority my family expects me to pledge. I'm a third generation legacy. On the first day of rush, I realize I'm in trouble. I'm not like the other girls in the house. But as long as my parents control my college funds, resisting is futile. Until Zach, the live-in houseboy, who's quite possibly the hottest guy I will ever meet, serves me a cupcake and flashes me a sympathetic look. With one enigmatic smile, he flips my heart and my world upside down. My parents will cut me off if they even suspect I'm interested in a house guy. But I can't stay away from him. And so I pledge the house for all the wrong reasons.

Zach
Living in a sorority? I get flipped a load of crap about being a live-in servant, the help. Easy access to the hottest girls on campus? Not with the unbreakable rule—get caught with one of the girls and you're fired. Immediately. Lose this job and I can't afford college. I sure as hell can't ask my parents for help. They wish I'd never been born. Considering what I did, I don't blame them. I've learned to think of the girls like sisters. Until Alexis pledges the house. Now sister is the last thing on my mind.

Oh the struggle I have with books like this. 

There are not many things in life I claim to be an expert about…the Yankees in the 90’s, Notre Dame Football since the Lou Holtz era (minus the Bob Davies years that I pretend didn’t exist), my personal likes and dislikes, and sorority life as I knew it.  I will be the first to tell you, sororities are different campus to campus.  The culture is different.  The same sorority at two different schools could be complete polar opposites.  At my school you wore school colors with pride to a sporting event.  Some people painted their faces and we cheered for our team, even the girls that didn’t care about football.  Jeans, yoga pants and t-shirts or sweatshirts with the school name or logo.  In the south, they were pearls and dresses and treat it as a dress up event… it’s football…but that’s how they do it.  But the rules for recruitment, the things you are and are not allowed to do – that I know! I have been on every side of formal recruitment and this book did not exactly get them correct. 

I’m not sure if the author was Greek and not really involved/misinterpreted what she learned or if she maybe misinterpreted what she learned through internet research, books, movies and tv.  For me, the inaccuracies in the beginning of the books (during “rush”) were distracting.  I had a hard time staying involved in the story…I wanted to look up the NPC rules and paste them in my status updates instead.  Think I’m kidding…. https://www.npcwomen.org/resources/pdf/Unanimous%20Agreements.pdf … but don’t worry, I didn’t type out all of the issues, I won’t bore you with the details of that.

It made me realize something about myself – I need to stop reading books about sorority life.  That’s a personal thing, so I tried to move past it.  That took me to about halfway through.

I considered DNFing…it’s all the stereotypical things you’ve come to hear about the hierarchy of the Greek system.  The hot blondes at the top, the fat or ugly or weird girls at the bottom (did you see House Bunny? – like that).  But there were some things she got pretty spot on – like Homecoming activities, I could totally see happening.  So I kept going…

Thankfully, there were a few redeeming characters that kept me reading (Kayla, the houseboys, even Kelly and Dakota weren’t so bad) and in the end, I enjoyed most of the second half of the book.  Once I could get passed some of my own issues (that someone who wasn’t Greek wouldn’t necessarily pick up on), I wanted to see how it was going to play out.  Some things were pretty predictable, but there were a few things that caught me by surprise in a good way.  But then the end happened, and much like the attraction between Alexis and Zach,  I felt like it was just rushed through.

In the end, it was probably Zach that kept me reading.  I really liked his character and I wanted to see how it would all play out.  I also really liked Dakota’s character, it didn’t go exactly like I thought it would with him…but that wound up being okay too.  I’ll be honest, Alexis kind of got on my nerves, but she’s an 18 year old sorority girls.  Looking back at myself at that time, I’d get on my nerves now too. 

All in all, this probably wasn’t the story for me but I am sure there are people who will enjoy it.  Definite plus that it doesn’t have a cliffhanger – if you don’t want it to.