Cover Reveal: Seeking Her by Cora Carmack

It's a well-known secret that I'm a bit of a Cora Carmack fangirl and have loved each and every installment of her Losing It series, so I'm extremely excited today to get the chance to reveal the cover for her upcoming novella, Seeking Her. Seeking Her is written from Jackson Hunt's point of view (Kelsey's love interest in Finding It), and I simply cannot wait to get my hands on this one. Finding It was my favorite of the series to date despite a very rocky start with Kelsey, and I repeatedly found myself wishing for a peek inside Jackson's head as I read her story, so this one is sure to be a real treat for me.

Enough rambling, check out Seeking Her!

SEEKING HER

(releases January 28th from William Morrow)

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. 

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Review: Finding It

FINDING IT
Losing It #3
Cora Carmack
Contemporary New Adult
320 pages
William Morrow
Available October 15th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (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.

MY THOUGHTS
Finding It, following in the wake of its hugely entertaining predecessors, seems initially as though it's going to pale in comparison, heroine Kelsey a woman who in the opening chapters makes us question whether or not we can even bring ourselves to spend several hundred pages with her as she makes one spectacularly poor and dangerous choice after another. The only excuse she provides for her bar and bed hopping is the self-delusion she's filling herself so full of life that when she returns to a cold, empty and regimented world of wealth and privilege she'll have her time in Europe to carry her through. Her reasoning appears weak at best to us in the beginning, and it's difficult to do anything other than grimace at her behavior, watching as what appears to be a spoiled rich girl drinks herself to stupidity in order to forget the not-unique misfortune of having a grossly imperfect home life. What we soon come to see though is that we should have had faith in Ms. Cormack from page one, Kelsey's story turning out to be impressively gut-wrenching as it casts an entirely new light on a character we're mistakenly quick to judge.

After a rough start with Kelsey, we're given a few small hints here and there that bring an abrupt halt to the judgmental rant we'd been creating in our heads, forcing us to look harder at the young woman in black and white before us. What we find is someone with so many faces she honestly doesn't know if there's a real one in the bunch; someone who from an appallingly young age has been throwing booze and men in the path of her past as she's run away from it, trying in vain to slow down its relentless pursuit with obstacles so she can continue to find empty comfort in hiding herself away from the world. Though Kelsey recognizes what happened to her so long ago and what she's done to herself since then are far less gruesome than what so many others are forced to endure, it doesn't take away from the reality of her pain, and we feel every agonizing beat of her heart as it bleeds for the girl she feels she could have been.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the romantic setup of Finding It is how little we actually get to know Jackson Hunt, a young man of secret smiles and hooded eyes that hide far more than they reveal, but even so Ms. Cormack writes a stunning relationship between the two of them rich in realism and believability. Just because we don't get to know him all that well doesn't mean he's not an absolutely fascinating character with a past as dark–and in some ways darker given his time in the military–than Kelsey's, and he easily manages to charm us just as he does her. It's not difficult to guess what he's hiding, but knowing in advance doesn't detract in the least from the devastation we feel when Kelsey learns the truth for herself, the fragile foundation of a new life brutally ripped away to reveal ruse where she desperately needed reality.

Though the bitter and deeply troubling relationship with her parents could have been explored with more depth, it likely would have taken us on an unnecessary detour, our minds and hearts so involved in Kelsey's life that we can't help but want every element of her existence to be detailed for us. Overall, Finding It rockets right on by both Losing it and Faking It to easily become the best of the series, taking us to new emotional highs and lows and challenging us as readers to not make snap judgments based on limited information, instead showing us just how much unexpected beauty can be found in patience.

Rating: 4.5/5

Find Cora:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Mini Reviews: Keeping Her + I Dream of Danger

KEEPING HER
Losing It #1.5
Cora Carmack
Contemporary New Adult
Novella
William Morrow/HarperCollins
Available August 13th
Source: eARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Garrick Taylor and Bliss Edwards managed to find their happily-ever-after despite a rather . . . ahem . . . complicated start. By comparison, meeting the parents should be an absolute breeze, right?

But from the moment the pair lands in London, new snags just keep cropping up: a disapproving mother-in-law-to-be, more than one (mostly) minor mishap, and the realization that perhaps they aren't quite as ready for their future as they thought.

As it turns out, the only thing harder than finding love is keeping it.

MY THOUGHTS
Keeping Her is an absolute treat for fans of Cora Carmack in general and original couple Garrick and Bliss in particular, giving us a look behind the curtain of happily ever after as the two of them find themselves taking the first tentative steps outside their shiny new romance bubble and into the complicated reality of navigating a partnership rather than a sole proprietorship. Because this novella is furthering the story of an already established couple, no lead in or build up is necessary, instead we get the pleasure of diving right into the thick of things, tension between Bliss and Garrick sparking and flaring as their individual insecurities are thrust into the limelight and put on display for the most critical of audiences: Garrick’s parents.

What’s so beautiful about Garrick and Bliss’s relationship though is their ability to communicate; neither of them the type of people to keep things bottled up inside until they poison what they have via emotional suppression, rather they both always step forward when something is bothering them and opt to share the burden between them. They aren't without flaws of course and their love isn’t magically perfect after the events of Losing It, but there’s never a moment where we question the rightness of the two of them together, their trust that the other person won’t let them fall wrapping their relationship in steel bands we know will never break no matter how much ammunition is fired in their direction. Cora Carmack has yet to disappoint me, and Keeping Her comes with my highest recommendation for Garrick and Bliss lovers everywhere.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Cora:

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I  DREAM OF DANGER

Ghost Ops #2

Lisa Marie Rice

Adult Romantic Suspense

304 pages

Available now

William Morrow/HarperCollins

Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)

In the second book of Lisa Marie Rice's thrilling Ghost Ops series, the Haven team is faced with a new addition to their secret society-and a threat capable of destroying everything they hold dear.

When Nick Ross disappears from Elle Thomason's life, she is certain she'll never see the man she loves again—except in her dreams.

Ten years later, as a respected researcher breaking new ground in psychic phenomena, she sends a desperate call for Nick's help. One by one, her colleagues have started disappearing . . . and Elle knows she's next. An elite soldier, Nick never meant to hurt Elle, duty kept him away—and then she vanished. Now troubled by unusually vivid, disturbing dreams of Elle in danger, Nick will rescue the only woman he's ever wanted and bring her back with him to Haven. Though powerful men are after Elle and her special abilities, Nick will die before leaving her side again.

MY THOUGHTS

I Dream of Danger is the type of romance that must be entered into with a sense of preparedness, fully expecting to embrace some familiar romance novel cliches like a hyper-sexualized covert ops soldier and a frighteningly naïve virgin whose body simply won't respond to anyone other than him. The physical aspect of their relationship happens quickly in this second installment of the Ghost Ops series, and while the speed with which they end up in bed isn't all that bothersome given Elle has loved Nick her entire life, their first sexual encounter reads a bit clinical, leaving us slightly uncomfortable as Nick introduces Elle to all the pleasures her body is capable of experiencing. Luckily, their later intimacies are more sensual, though they of course remain over the top and earth-shattering with absolutely no room in the moment of passion for safety or pregnancy concerns.

In addition to the extensive sexual exaggeration, the main mystery element involving Elle's missing coworkers is wrapped up rather quickly at the end, some interesting aspects regarding Elle's ability to astrally project not explored as thoroughly as we might have hoped going in, and we're left with one major plot point unresolved as we're presumably setup for the romantic pairing of book three. Despite its flaws however, there is still an addictive quality to I Dream of Danger, and the quicker we accept the romantic embellishments the more fun we have reading this story. By the end, we can't help but want to continue on and see what becomes of the next member of the Ghost Ops team and the woman who's clearly caught his attention, willing to dive back into this world just as soon as we're in the mood for the stretching of romantic believability and physical prowess once again.

Rating: 3/5
 

Find Lisa:

Website • Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon 

These books were sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

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CRAVE TWITTER CHAT

Romance is obviously the theme of the day on the blog, so in keeping with it I wanted to mention that I will be co-hosting a Twitter chat with new adult and adult romance author Monica Murphy today from 3pm-4pm EST. I'm hugely excited for the first book of her new Billionaire Bachelors Club series, Crave, which released this week from Avon, and I hope some of you will join me this afternoon to ask Monica all about it (look for #crave, @sprntrlsnark, @avonbooks and @MsMonicaMurphy). We'll also be choosing one person at random to receive a printed copy of the book, so please drop in to say hi!

Cover Reveal: Finding It by Cora Carmack

I'm hugely excited today to share with you the cover for Finding It, the third book in the Losing It series by Cora Carmack. I think everyone knows by now that I'm a rabid cool, calm, and collected fan of Cora's, so I'm of course counting down the days until October 1st when I can finally get my hands on Finding It. Luckily for me though, the follow up novella to Bliss and Garrick's story, Keeping Her, is releasing on August 13th so I'll have something to tide me over. You can get a sneak peek of this story as well as several scenes from Garrick's POV here if you missed that post a little while ago, but first, let me know what you think of Finding It!

From Goodreads:

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.

Goodreads • Amazon

  

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CORA CARMACK

 (photo by Matt Tolbert)

I'm Cora Carmack,  a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. I've done a multitude of things in my life-- boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). I enjoy placing my characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too.  My first book, LOSING IT, was a New York Times and USA Today Bestseller.

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