Friday, February 15, 2013

Review: Losing It

LOSING IT
Losing It #1
Cora Carmack
New Adult Contemporary Romance
288 pages
William Morrow
Available February 26th
Received from publisher via Edelweiss

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Virginity.

Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she 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.

MY THOUGHTS
Losing It is a story that brings an enormous smile to our faces, the protagonist’s penchant for landing herself in the most awkward situations imaginable something we know would only add to her humiliation were she aware of us as additional witnesses, but her embarrassment causes not a single laugh directed at her to escape our mouths, instead we always laugh with her, invisible partners to share the burden of her repeated romantic misfortunes. This book is one to read for pure enjoyment, Bliss and Garrick highly entertaining characters despite the fact that they don’t necessarily bring anything new to the contemporary romance table, and we find in their story the simplicity of a spectacularly fun read.

Bliss is endlessly amusing, someone who embodies those moments we’ve all had where mysterious gremlins intercept the words we want to say when they leave our brains, twist them around completely, and then release them from our mouths, laughing all the while in maniacal glee at what they’ve done. There’s an extreme disconnect between her brain and mouth when she gets nervous, and her bumbling actions and frantic excuses have us laughing aloud even as our cheeks turn bright red in vicarious mortification. As the story progresses her awkwardness throttles down several gears, ensuring she doesn’t become a caricature of quirkiness and allowing us to really connect to her emotionally instead of simply finding ourselves amused at her antics.

Garrick is as adorably swoon-worthy as they come, a sexy accent accompanied by intelligence, patience, and charm to make Bliss’s (and our) hearts beat double-time. As mentioned previously, he’s not a new character by any means, many of his traits things we’ve seen before several times over, but his familiar feel doesn’t detract from his romance with Bliss, and we’re easily caught up in the little lies and the huge teacher-student relationship danger that exists between them. The possibility of their being caught has us strung tight the entire second half of the story, waiting for the inevitable moment when everything they’ve begun to build starts to crumble around them. Luckily for us though, there is absolutely no game playing for our leading couple, and while things for them are hard and painful at times, we always have faith that the rather blunt approach they’ve taken throughout in terms of communication will see them through.

Overall, Losing It is a joy to read even if it’s not blazing a new romantic trail, and both Bliss and Garrick are characters whose memory warm our hearts every time we think of them.

Rating: 4/5

38 comments:

  1. YES!! I knew you'd love it :)))))) It was such a light, romantic and swoon worthy book! I saw the next cover of "Faking It" which looks a little better than this cover here and I cannot wait!

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    1. It was so cute Danny! I need Faking It right this minute:)

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  2. I totally agree with you. Her ability to get herself in awkward situations was too funny! I also loved Garrick too. That accent *swoon* and I just love teacher-student relationships if they are done really well, like here and Slammed! :D

    great review, your description of Bliss is spot on!

    - Juhina @ Maji Bookshelf

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    1. I loved Bliss. She was so endearingly awkward and I just wanted to reach in and hug her:) I still need to read Slammed!!!

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  3. I wish the publisher on Edelweiss would either approve/decline me already- I hate waiting in the dark! I'm really looking forward to these extremely awkward/embarrassing situations the main character gets herself into...it may make myself feel a lot better considering I always claim I have terrible luck! I want to meet Garrick alreadyyyy; need more swoon-worthy men in my life!!<3 Fantastic review, Jenny<3

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    1. I'm in that situation with Simon & Schuster. It's been a week. I feel rejection coming. *sobs*

      Garrick hot, hot, hot. You will love him:)

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  4. that last sentence of the blurb makes me smile or is it a grin?! hehe :D This really sounds pretty fun to read. Another contemporary novel to add on my TBR. Thanks Jen for your thoughts.

    on side note, I think I saw that cover before or something close. I just can't remember if it's the same book.

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    1. It probably is the same book, I believe it was self-published originally before Harper picked it up, so there is still a slightly different version of this cover floating around out there:)

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  5. Ohoo! This book is already on my to-read list but does it sound good! I think that little bit of laughing would do me good these days! :) Great review :)

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    1. It was just a really fun book Tanja! Very sexy too, so not at all for younger readers. Definitely New Adult:)

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  6. I read this one forever ago and remember giving it a 3...:) I did love the ending with the dancing thing but kinda gave it a hard time cause I thought it was to similar to another of my favorite books.

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    1. It just put me in such a great mood, and I was having a rough week, so any book that does that gets high marks from me. It's definitely nothing new, but it was really fun I thought.

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  7. Ohh, good! I'm in desperate need of a feel good romance. I love that the heroine has all these awkward moments, she'll be easy enough to identify with. TO be honest, I never expect my romances to be memorable, when I DO pick one up, which is admittedly not often, I want to have fun, and not drown in angst. I guess this is a perfect book for me.
    Great review!

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  8. Finally! Your thoughts on this book. I'll read it. I wasn't sure whether I like it or not and I need to cleanse my reading palette and read something different.

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  9. Ohhh! This sounds like a really good light read for a hot day at the beach. I'll have to check it out. You had me at Garrick's sexy accent. ;)

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  10. This is a super cute book, Jenny. :) I loved Bliss! She's so hilarious! I'm pretty sure I would be just as awkward as her with Garrick. That man is so fine! ;)

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  11. You know, I really hate those gremlins. They're active little buggers and can mess things up. But they certainly make things amusing, especially when it's not happening to me! Plus, light romance is always a hit.

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  12. I've been dying to read this book and I haven't seen many reviews for it so yours was a pleasant surprise. I'm glad it was a fun read overall! The preview on amazon had me going AHHH NOOO WHY MUST YOU END T-T

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  13. I loved this too, I kinda worried about the professor thing..but it was perfect :)

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  14. This sounds FUN! Except that being a teacher to college aged kids has soured me somewhat on reading about those teacher-student relationships. =/

    (I think my late night comments are far more entertaining than my late morning comments. Huh. Amanda is more fun at night, apparently.)

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  15. WOHOOO!!!! I KNEW YOU'D LIKE IT =) It was so sweet and Blissful, lol. I just enjoyed their chemistry and fun incidents. I agree that it isn't a book that brings anything new nor original to the table, but it is entertaining and that's what a lot of us look for in a book. If a book isn't original, it better be something one would enjoy and most of us enjoy a good laugh, awkward and cute situations and a great leading couple - that's what this book had :) SO glad you enjoyed it, Jenny! Lovely review:)

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  16. This isn't something I would usually go for, but I'm already convinced! I've heard such brilliant things about the romance in this, and look forward to experiencing it myself. Great review!

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  17. Well sometimes it is nice just to read a straightforward swoony romance without games and such. What is it about guys with accents that gets our hearts pitterpattering? This sounds like a good solid read! Happy Friday, Jenny!

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  18. I love British guys, so that itself has me convinced to read this. When I'm in the mood for a romance, I'll be sure to pick this one up. Great review, Jenny! :)

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  19. So glad you love this one too! I've heard such amazing things and I just bought it. Now I'm looking forward to reading it even more! It sounds like I'm going to love Bliss and Garrick too, even if their characters and romance feel familiar. Sometimes it's nice to read something you know will put a smile on your face. Wonderful review!

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  20. I have to admit, I didn't think I'd like this book. Yep, I'm a cover snob. :( Now that I have your review, I am totally rethinking it. I also love the way you have with words and if your gremlins do that to you, can you send them my way? My gremlins are broken. However, they do have the mortification down pat. LOL

    You've convinced me. I'm adding this one to the wishlist. :)

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  21. This is the 2nd review I've read on this one and the other person (can't remember who) liked it a lot as well. The cover makes me blush, but it sounds so cute. I just squirm so much when a character is embarrassed -- I guess I can relate.

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  22. This one sounds really good! I like a book where we can laugh WITH the characters and this sounds like a book that's not stressful, which is the kind of book I'm really looking for. Great review!

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  23. I hope i remember to return and read your review after I read it--Losing It is on my ereader and I don't want any spoilers. I love NA books! Have you read Slammed?

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  24. I had a peek at this one the other day after someone reviewed Faking It. It looked amazing, sexy, fun and hilarious! Will definitely be reading it in full one day. Glad you liked it too!

    Lisa | Read Me Bookmark Me Love Me

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  25. I loved Garrick, Jenny! Hot British guy and I'm so there. Every time he called her "love" I died a little. That ending was amazing! Thrilled to see you enjoyed this, too. Great review. :)

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  26. I don't read too many New Adult novels but this one sounds like a cute romance I could read when I'm in the mood to escape my review pile. I can totally sympathize with Bliss and this sentence: "mysterious gremlins intercept the words we want to say when they leave our brains, twist them around completely, and then release them from our mouths, laughing all the while in maniacal glee at what they’ve done." There are so many times when this happens and afterwards I'm like, "did I really say/do that?!"

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  27. I totally forgot I bought this and it's sitting on my Nook. I need to read it ASAP. Sounds like you really enjoyed it, which means odds are high that I will enjoy it as well. :)

    Great review, girl! I am becoming such a fan of the new adult genre.

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  28. You liked this book much, much, much more than I did for sure! Sadly, I almost threw my ipad at the wall when I was reading this (ALMOST; the ipad is safe!) but hey, to each her own!

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  29. Sometimes tried and true just works for a reason:) Sounds ike a great fun read ...this is the second great review I've seen for this one...might have to add to my wishlist!

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  30. I've seen some great reviews for Losing it and I can't wait to read it. I'm so glad that they tweaked the cover. The first one was a little embarrassing.

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