Showing posts with label Losing It. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Losing It. Show all posts

Finding it & Seeking Her by Cora Carmack

Title:Finding it
Series:  Losing It #3
Author: Cora Carmack
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Release Date:October 15th 2013
Pages: Paperback, 304 pages,
Source: Library
Summary from Goodreads:
Sometimes you have to lose yourself to find where you truly belong...

Most girls would kill to spend months traveling around Europe after college graduation with no responsibility, no parents, and no-limit credit cards. Kelsey Summers is no exception. She's having the time of her life . . . or that's what she keeps telling herself.

It's a lonely business trying to find out who you are, especially when you're afraid you won't like what you discover. No amount of drinking or dancing can chase away Kelsey's loneliness, but maybe Jackson Hunt can. After a few chance meetings, he convinces her to take a journey of adventure instead of alcohol. With each new city and experience, Kelsey's mind becomes a little clearer and her heart a little less hers. Jackson helps her unravel her own dreams and desires. But the more she learns about herself, the more Kelsey realizes how little she knows about Jackson.


Review

Kelsey never really captured my attention in the beginning of the series so starting was a bit rough for me.  Kelsey seemed to be on a path of self destruction, sleeping with different guys every night and drinking her days away. It was a bit predictable to guess that she had something else going on.  The story picked up after she started getting to know the tough guy who seems to be on a mission to get to know her. Jackson was her knight in shining armor and the romance is powerful, strong, and fast yet.  I enjoyed their chemistry, dynamic, and tension; the writing did an excellent job of blending the romance with some unease.

One of the big secrets, while not predictable, did seem to be a bit unoriginal.  Finding It was simply a middle of the road, average read.  I felt like I could not connect with the characters and they were not the most like-able people.  The overall tone was serious, full of deeper issues, personal growth and no humor.  The humor is what I feel in love with in the first book and the second book but seemed to be missing in this one.  Finding It just fell flat for me.  It was not bad by any means, I just had such high expectations after really enjoying Losing It.


Title:Seeking Her
Series:  Losing It #3.5
Author: Cora Carmack
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Release Date:January 28th 2014
Pages: Kindle 160 Pages
Source: Library
Summary from Goodreads:
A few months after being honorably discharged from the military, Jackson Hunt is still struggling to adjust back to the real world. He needs to get a job and find a sense of normalcy if he’s going to keep his own demons at bay. The job that falls into his lap, though, is anything but normal.

Bodyguard (and baby-sitter) to spoiled-rich-girl Kelsey Summers isn’t exactly what he’d been looking for, but it’s a chance to travel, to get away from the home that has felt stifling ever since his return. It would be a pretty sweet gig if it weren’t for the fact that Kelsey’s father doesn’t want Kelsey to know she’s being followed. Hunt feels guilty (and a little bit creepy) as he watches her from afar. She’s vibrant and infuriating, exciting and reckless, mysterious and familiar. When he sees her falling into the same patterns that he suffered years ago, he decides it’s time to stop watching and help her instead. But getting to know her is more difficult than he thought, especially because the more he knows her, the more he wants her.


Review

Seeking Her is a novella that allows the reader to see the story from Jackson's point of view.  I wish the novella was like Keeping Her in that its focus is about the ever after, instead it is the same story just from a different view.  While others may like the change in POV, I feel like the story is too similar and I have a tendency to lose interest in reading the same story line just slightly different.

As mentioned before, I had a hard time connecting with both Kelsey and Jackson making the story hard to get into.  I would not recommend this one unless you loved Jackson and just want more from his perspective.  And you have to be okay with him being a bit stalker-ish.  Even with all that said, the writing is fast paced and an easy read.  I cannot wait to start Carmack's next series!


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Faking it by Cora Carmack

Title:Faking It
Series:  Losing It #2
Author: Cora Carmack
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Release Date:June 4th 2013
Pages: Paperback, 304 pages
Source: Library
Summary from Goodreads:
Mackenzie “Max” Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings, they just might disown her. Even worse, they’re expecting to meet a nice, wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she meets Cade.

Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he’s kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they’re forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.


Review

I absolutely devoured Losing It, so I was so excited to start Faking It and hear more about Cade since he got the short end of the stick in the first book.  I will first start off by saying I love how the books are a series yet since each book is about a different character, they can be read as a stand alone. Reading them in order gives the reader a bit more background and back story but the overall plot is quite stand alone with no cliff hangers.  I enjoyed the feeling of completeness after finishing this one!

Cade and Max have a whole different kind of relationship, one that started as pretend and turned into something real.  The biggest reservation I had, which is not really to the writing or story telling of the book but more a personal preference thing was that I was not a huge fan of the fact that Max was in a relationship for a bit while in the fake but real relationship with Cade.  Besides that aspect, I loved their chemistry and banter.  Both characters carried a past with them and needed help overcoming it; they were well developed and thought out characters, they never fell flat.

The whole situation was a comical one, while I thought the story had a bit more serious tone to it compared to Losing It, it was still quite enjoyable!  I loved Cade, he was a sweet, loving, and overall just good guy. Max had a lot going on, she had a lot of hurt and sadness in her past yet a strong personality and facade.  Together they made a great couple and a fun book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one, it did not quite have the light-hearted nature I fell in love with in book one yet it had a different rough but strong story line.  I recommend it if you enjoyed Losing It just keep in mind there is hardly any awkward, clumsy Bliss (who I thought was fantastic).


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Stacking the Shelves (98) - Nov 15th

Stacking the Shelves - hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews - features books that you bought, borrowed, rented from the library, received for review, etc.

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Losing It by Cora Carmack

Title:Losing It
Author: Cora Carmack
Series: Losing it #1
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date:October 15th 2012
Pages: Ebook, 204 pages
Source: Library
Summary from Goodreads:
Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, Bliss Edwards decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible - a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if that weren't embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre professor. She'd left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.


Review

Nicole and I had the pleasure of meeting Cora Carmack at the Baltimore Book Festival. She spoke on a couple panels with other fantastic authors.  After hearing the New Adult panel and listening to Cora describe her books I just knew I needed to give them a chance.

Losing It is a perfectly awkward blend of college life and relationships; I was devouring the pages of this fun, lighthearted book! Bliss was starting her last semester of college as a virgin and decided that she needed to change that.  From the moment the book started I was grinning; Bliss was such a real, quirky, entertaining character.  Here are some of my favorites:

Somewhere between Save by the Bell and Gossip Girl, it became unheard of for a girl to graduate college with her V-card still in hand. 

I was terrified I'd melt into a puddle of arousal and awkwardness if I met his gorgeous eyes again.  

Was he trashing my place because I'd run out and left him there like the biggest jerk this side of Kanye West at the 2009 VMAs?

Not only was Bliss a fantastic character, Garrick the gorgeous main character who happens to have a British accent was equally as fantastic.  The dynamic and chemistry between Bliss and Garrick was radiating off the pages.  The romance was funny, real, and sexy all at the same time.  Bliss would over analyze situations, she is clumsy, she is a nerd, she gets nervous, she is a relate-able honest character.

The secondary characters are primarily Bliss's theater classmates and friends; each friend fills a different role in the story and supplement the fast paced plot.  The ending was satisfying but I was so invested in the characters I just needed more so thank goodness there is a novella!

Overall, I highly recommend Losing It if you are looking for a light-hearted, non-angsty story about an awkward college student that has fabulous inner monologues and funny one liners all while battling the sexual tension she has with her new professor.


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