JESSICA REVIEWS: FAKING IT (LOSING IT #2) by CORA CARMACK + GIVEAWAY

Series: Faking It #2
Category/Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Publication Date: 6/4/13
Source: Received from publisher for review

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.

 

"I was doomed to always be attracted to the girls I couldn’t have."

I read LOSING IT’s blurb quickly and said to self, “Sure. What the hell not. Let’s read it for shits and giggles.” I mean, this chick leaves the guy stranded in his bed! Gotta see what happens. I’m usually a little iffy about “virgin” female characters in books. They seem to be sappy and clueless to me, so you can understand my hesitation reading the first book in the series. To my surprise, I loved LOSING IT. I giggled, I snort laughed and I awwed at Bliss and Garrick’s (female/male lead characters) story. It was fantastic to read the ups and downs of these two characters. This is also the book in which we also meet some supporting characters that you just can’t help but connect with as well. Here is where we first meet Cade Winston.

"I’d never dated a girl like her, and she’d never dated a guy like me. But sometimes you don’t know what you’re looking for until it’s already knocked you flat on your back. And what point is living if I was only going to travel the same roads again and again?"



Oh Cade, poor, poor Cade. Where to even begin with you, poor boy. He wears his heart on his sleeve. He completely falls for Bliss and all her quirkiness. He fell into the ‘best friend wishes she was my girlfriend’ hole and just couldn’t dig himself out of it. Poor guy was knocked in the head and doofus when it came to Bliss. Someone should have given him the updated memo stating that the English Hot Forbidden Teacher trumps Cutie Boy Next Door Best Friend almost 99.9% of the time. *sigh* Clearly, he didn’t have a chance. Let’s move on…or try to at least…

  "Suddenly, the thought of spending days with him didn’t make me nervous. It made me sad. There were many parts of my life that I wanted to leave firmly in the past, but now I was pretty sure he wasn’t one of them…Once again, I was too late.

  I pulled her into my arms, and she cried until the events of the morning disappeared, until the present took a backseat to the past. And until I knew I couldn’t live without her."



In enters Max. This whirlwind of a girl breezes into the coffee shop and Cade’s life is completely turned upside down. She isn’t like his typical type of girl that he gets hot and bothered for. She is tatted up, funky hair, feisty, outspoken and a hefty chip on her shoulder that just won’t go away. She is everything he never thought he would want in a girl. Angry Girl meet Golden Boy. Golden Boy meet Angry Girl. Commence with the trip to CrazyTown. Oh and on the way, don’t forget to impress Max’s parents. They are some tough characters to crack.


 “I know how different we are. I know that I’m not your normal type. But I also know that you’re attracted to me. I know that you make me laugh, and that I love hearing your voice, especially when you sing. I know that I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the day you sat down beside me at the coffee shop. And I know that I hate seeing you in pain, more than anything else in the world.”


Max and Cade were great for each other. Both have felt an overwhelming loss in their lives. Both are searching for that something that will reconnect them to the real world. Although both seem to live of life of okays, they are both looking for that something that is great. Cade has his acting and Max her music. However, it’s not enough for them. What do you do when you need that one thing-or that one person-that will help your love of your craft to mesh with real life? You look for that one person that will be your rock, your shoulder, your friend, your everything. The one that will have your back no matter the circumstances.


 “We both have baggage, Max, but I’m done letting it control me. You said you came to here for closure, and I think that’s what we both need. We’ve had too much death and disappointment, so we don’t know how to accept the good things when they happen to us. I’m done with that. I’m done with letting people go.”

 “You don’t understand. Yes, I have feelings for you. It was one of the hardest things I ever done, leaving you. But I know myself. I know how I work, and that’s why I don’t trust myself to be with you. My heart is fickle and inconstant, and I’m terrified I’ll wake up one day and feel differently.”

 “I think you’re terrified that you won’t. And if you do wake up one day and don’t want to be with me, I will fight for you like I am now. I’ll remind you every day how amazing it feels when your body touches mine. I’ll remind you of the good times, and help you forget the bad. I’ll remind you who you are when life has beaten you down and made you doubt it. I’ll bust down your door in the middle of the night and kiss you until you remember that your fears are just that, and they can’t control you. I’ll take my chances against your fickle heart of it means it’s mine.”


I liked this book a lot. I really liked that the story was told in dual POVs. We got to see what was in both their heads. I think the author is wonderful at meshing humor with real life situations. I, myself, connected with Max in the sense that I felt like she was me a decade ago (and sometimes even now in mid 30s I have my moments). I was young, tatted up, scared my parents would disapprove of every situation I made in life and this is how Max was portrayed in the book. Don’t get me wrong. There were moments where I wanted to physically shake Max through the book and tell her to grow up. But then I would take a moment and realize that the character is very young, and that I went through the same events and situations just as she did. You are learning from mistakes and growing in life. And in this growth comes the good, the bad and the ugly.

I would definitely recommend this book. If you need that little bit of humor or quick read in between heftier books, definitely pick this one up.



Favorite quotes/sexy times:

  “Please…I thought you weren’t able to say no to me?”
  “I’m not done exploring this part of you.”
  “Explore that part of me later.
  “I like the sound of that, but I also like hearing you beg.”
  “I like when you’re a little less golden."
  “I want you. How many times are you going to make me say please?”
  “I think that one did the trick.”

  “You’re mad.”
  “Hell yes, I’m mad.”
  “I told you that I would tell them, Cade. I was planning to do it in the morning, in fact. It’s all I’ve been thinking about.”
  “That’s not what I’m mad about.”
  “Then what?”
  “I’m angry that you keep pushing me away when I know you don’t want to…I’m angry that you left me after the best sex of my life…More than anything, I’m angry that I had to wait so long to kiss you again.”

 The Losing It Series

(click on cover for GoodReads page)

Andrea's Review for Losing It

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GIVEAWAY

Thanks to William Morrow Books, I received an extra copy of Faking It in my volunteer bag at Book Bash! I am passing this on to a lucky winner.

Open to US residents only. Must be 18 years of age to enter.

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About the author:
Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She's done a multitude of things in her life-- boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, LOSING IT, is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.

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