Author: Cora Carmack
Publication Date: February 26, 2013
Pages: 259
Source: I bought this at a second hand bookstore!
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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.
I've been on a new adult kick for a while now, and I have finally been able to read the genre critically. When I first started reading new adult a bit more than a two years ago, I loved everything NA had to offer. I'm happy to say that I am now able to criticize new adult and feel like I know what I am talking about. As I'm sure you guessed, I did not love Losing It. However, I still did enjoy it.
What kept me from enjoying Losing It more was the lack of complexity. There is something almost heartwarming about a simple plot, but Losing It was too simple for me. I felt like I had read the story before in several other look alike novels. There are a plethora of coming of age stories with a forbidden romance, and there are plenty that I have liked more than this. What would have made up for the lack of originality in plot were the characters.
Unfortunately for me, I did not particularly like the main cast of characters. Bliss, the main character, didn't annoy me per se, but instead grated on my nerves. The way she handled things was so far fetched. There were also some times where she tossed around the words "slut" and "hoe-bag" without thought, and I found it to be demeaning towards women and showing of her lack of maturity. Garrick, the love interest, seemed to be a cardboard cut out of a book boyfriend. He's a nice guy with a bad boy edge, British, and is forbidden. I wish that he had something that made him stand out. To be honest, he lacked personality to the extent that a couple days after I finished the book, I forgot his name.
What made this book get a positive rating for me is the readability of the novel. Losing It is fast paced, requires little thought, and kept me entertained. I laughed out loud several times, and it did provide what I needed at the time: a breather from the classics I was reading for school. Carmack's writing wasn't the best, but it kept me reading.
I did enjoy myself while reading Losing It, but I just wish that it pushed the new adult boundaries a bit more. The characters fell flat for me, as did the plot. However, it was entertaining and kept me laughing. Losing It was a palette cleanser for me and kept me energized.
With that, I give this book
3 out of 5 Stars!
