Losing It by Cora Carmack
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Release Date: October 15th 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins
Series: Losing It #1
Goodreads description: 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.
I bought Losing It because the Kindle version was $1.99 and I had seen a lot of good things about it. I read it a while ago and didn’t write my review in a timely fashion (oops).
As the description states, Bliss is tired of being a virgin. She’s in college and she’s the only one of her friends that isn’t getting it on with hot guys. She seeks someone to lose it to and move on. However, when the time comes she wigs out and leaves. Then she finds out it’s her teacher and she has to deal see him all the time.
There were a lot of awkward moments in this book. For me, there was a lot of cringing. I saw a lot of people describe it as funny, but I didn’t find anything funny. There were a lot of CAPS LOCK thoughts going on, which was weird to me:
“HEART. ATTACK.
I was pretty sure I was having one.”
Bliss and Garrick meet in a bar and find each other attractive. The first time they meet, Garrick uses Shakespeare to accuse Bliss of making him jealous on purpose. “You know, sometimes I wonder if Desdemona was as innocent as she let on. Maybe she knew the effect she had on guys, and enjoyed making them jealous.” Well hello there, asshole. Of course any woman talking to another guy is out to make you jealous. Their relationship builds on attraction and maybe a mutual interest in acting. Maybe the forbidden aspect adds heat, and Garrick’s jealousy. They don’t really seem to get to know much about each other. There wasn’t anything about their relationship that made me feel very invested.
Bliss doesn’t realize her best friend, Cade, has feelings for her. This is completely ridiculous to me because almost every time he talks to her he calls her “babe” and he touches her a lot. I know, I know, some girls can be oblivious and babe can be used in a friendly way, but it’s so often. This part was just too cliché, too tired for me. I don’t really understand why Cade likes her or what’s so special about her. She isn’t horrible, but I don’t understand why two guys are falling all over her.
I didn’t really love any of the friendships, Kelsey was really demanding and even if Bliss wasn’t trying to be insulting, her opinions on Kelsey’s sexual freedom weren’t nice. Bliss wasn’t honest with Kelsey, Cade, or Garrick, which was really frustrating. Some of her reasons for lying were kind of understandable, and everyone lies sometimes. But her lies are just so stupid. I could give specific examples but I don’t want to spoil things. Although I will say that everything involving the cat was beyond ridiculous.
Bliss and company are drama majors and Garrick teaches them. There’s auditioning, life-planning, and Shakespeare. Some of it was interesting but most of it wrapped back around to the Garrick situation. I think the romance itself, and their interactions aren’t that bad. I thought some of the scenes were hot and enjoyable. I liked that this was a NA book that wasn’t as dark. It’s light and isn’t filled with depressing angst.
I had a few issues with this book. It wasn’t completely awful, but I didn’t love it. The writing wasn’t anything special and I wasn’t a fan of Bliss. In the time between reading and reviewing I actually forgot her name, and it isn’t that common of a name. Losing It is the first book in a series, but the next book (Faking It) is about the spurned Cade. Even though Cade’s lovesick devotion and his constant usage of “babe” annoyed the hell out of me, I’m still interested in reading Faking It. I want to see Cade get on with his life and find something better. I’d recommend Losing It if you want a quick romance with some decent heat but more than a few eye rolls.
Check out Cora Carmack‘s website and twitter!
A Blighted One 
This one actually sounded kinda fun, and I’m in love with the Kindle price, but looks like this one fell a bit flat for you — and probably would for me, too.
I love Kindle deals! A lot of people really love this book, and sometimes I’m not sure if I’m just being too picky. It annoyed me when I read it, then I was skimming it again to review and it was more obnoxious.
I have heard a lot about this series, and good to know that it fell a little flat because it helps set my expectations in a better place
Yeah, I’ve heard so many great things about it, too! I was relieved to find some other people that didn’t love it on Goodreads!
I tried reading this book but ended up DNFing it after a few pages. Bliss was just too immature for me and Garrick wasn’t that interesting. And her not noticing this Cade guy likes her after he’s so physically open about his feelings? Please</i.! Only an idiot wouldn't see that. Huh. I guess it's good I didn't stick around to read the whole book.
Sometimes NA is so tricky because the premises sound great and then you’re just like “Umm, no.” I don’t blame you for DNFing, Bliss stayed immature and Garrick stayed uninteresting!
Awww, I was wondering about this book. I have heard mixed reviews. I bought it too when it was on sale. But I might push this farther down my list.
Maybe you’ll connect with it better than I did! I hate when I bought a book or I’m excited about one and see negative things about it. But at least there are always other books to read!
I kept hearing such awesome things about this one. When it was .99 for the Nook, I went ahead about bought. I read a few pages and didn’t like it. The writing wasn’t all that good and Bliss annoying the heck out of me. I’ll read it at some point but I’m in no hurry. Sort of glad that it wasn’t stellar for you too…I thought that I was the only one.
I’m always glad to see other people agree with me when I don’t like a book everyone seems to love!
I bought LOSING IT & FAKING IT because of kindle deals too–though from deals a while back. A lot of the situations were extremely awkward, but truthfully I thought the ridiculousness of the cat and the awkwardness were what made them funny, like the “thank God, I’m not in that situation.” And: “Really, Bliss? Really?” I wasn’t a huge fan of Garrick, tbh, though I did like that the book focused on her losing her virginity, the pressure/stigma behind that, and… professor/student dynamics lol, though I’ve always found it incredulous that this English guy would in be a professor in Texas reading Shakespeare in a bar (the line you pointed out was also one of the things I really disliked about Garrick too). Bliss’s ignorance and the whole Cade thing (I hate “babe” too) was a tad overdone, and I wasn’t a huge fan of Cade’s for that reason but honestly, I actually thought FAKING IT was written better and found Cade a lot more interesting there. Maybe it’s because you get both sides of the story? Either way, sorry this one didn’t completely live up to the hype for you!
I think I could have liked the cat situation more if she hadn’t actually bought a cat to cover her lie! I think her using cats or a random exclamation was kind of funny. I’m not a huge fan of awkward situations on in books or tv, I’m a totaly wuss and on TV sometimes I change the channel, ha! I did like that the book was about losing her virginity, and that she didn’t let herself be pressured even though she kind of got mocked for it. And I’m actually a fan of teacher/student stories in general if they’re not too creepy, so I enjoyed that aspect as well. But I totally agree, why would he walk a mile and take Shakespeare, which he says he doesn’t like, in a bar because he got locked out of his apartment. Ookay Garrick.
I also disliked how Bliss reacted to Cade once she found out. She knew she didn’t want him and she felt like she could maybe settle even though she really wanted Garrick. Which, if she only wanted Garrick that’s fine but if she didn’t have any real feelings for Cade she didn’t have to tell him she might. She obviously doesn’t owe him anything, but telling him she might have feelings for him was kind of mean imo. She gave him hope then smashed it, so I kind of understand why he was hurt. He still bugged me, but I could see why he was hurt.
I’m still interested in the next one, but maybe I’ll wait to see if it drops down at some point! It was/is 2.99 this time around and even if it’s better I’d rather it be lower!