So THIS is what the buzz for Cora Carmack's books is all about. Finding It is the third book in the Losing It series but it reads fine (more than fine!) as a standalone novel. The previous books are completely unrelated stories that just revolve around Kelsey's friends.
Simply and shortly put: I. loved. this. book.
Now onto my long, possibly incoherent, and certainly unrestrained review. You've been warned.
Even the glamor of traveling through Europe alone and her daddy's limitless credit cards can't get Kelsey Summers out of her post-graduation slump. All the parties, the booze, the hot boys... they're distractions, but they're meaningless to her because she doesn't know what's wrong in her life. She's extremely privilegedblessed, even, with her Barbie-doll looks, theatre degree, and friends back home who love herbut she's unhappy, and what makes her unhappier is she doesn't know why. The bottomless, passionless pit she falls into can't be all there is to life, can it?
Then she meets the piercing eyes of a handsome stranger in a bar, and her world is turned upside-down. Life may not have been pretty before, but it also wasn't scary until ex-soldier Jackson Hunt came around... scary because for the first time in her life, she's met someone who ignites something inside of hersomeone who makes her want to bare the parts of herself that she thought she had long buried and thrown away.
Someone who threatens to love her even after discovering her secrets.
Carmack's gift for crafting the most flawedand thus beautifulof characters, is stunning. HUNT asdfasl;dflkasf I can't even begin to tell you how hard I fell for him. He is intricate in all of his worries and insecurities and mistakes, and the way I feel about him constantly alternates between I-love-him-so-much-he-is-perfection and fuck-fuck-fucj-why-is-he-fictional?!?! He's that kind of character. Kelsey is fun and flirty, and although she's a bit reckless and a bit irresponsible, she's mischievous, cunning, and absolutely divine; I loved her. She isn't a perfect narrator, but she's complex: a golden girl with an exquisite depth and charm to her that make her so real. She's always been the confident girl, the pretty girl, the one that was never afraid to be bold or brash or independent, but that might just be a role she's always playeda bit too well. And when Hunt slowly, agonizingly breaks through her thick skin only to reach an overwhelming, brilliant fire, he discovers this tendency to slip on the playful party-girl mask to cover up her worst of secrets and most worrisome of fears.
Both scarred and both searching, Kelsey and Hunt set off together in Europe without so much as a proper introduction, but that's what adventure isit's taking risksand that's what love is: it's putting your heart out there. Hunt's battle with self-control and Kelsey's battle with self-acceptance align just so they both recognize the hollows that need to be filled within one another. Their pursuit of a stormy, emotionally draining, but completely worthwhile relationship is invigorating, and it entails a flittering hope that maybe, just maybe, they might be able to teach each other to feel once again.
Kelsey and Hunt's voyage is both gorgeously scenic of Europe, and sweepingly romantic, which expertly demonstrate the magic of travel and the necessity of companionship. As walls begin to break down and an initially strained relationship softens, the pure tensionboth emotional and sexualwill make your heart flip and tumble and dance and sing.
The romance in Finding It is really something else. It's so hard to find such a realisticsuch an ugly but still glimmeringrelationship in new adult fiction: complex, soul-searingly deep, and painful at its lows, but absolutely dazzling at its highs. Carmack skillfully demonstrates the sharp, unexpected pain of letting someone into your heart after it's been tightly sealed shut, as well as the hopelessnessthe emptinessthe young-and-in-love experience when uncontrollable yearnings approach a startling revelation.
Carmack's writing is pitch-perfect, as wellanother thing I adore! Kelsey is snarky and coy in her narration, but at her most vulnerable points, she doesn't hold back from being perceptive, piercing, and very, very tender. It is tremendously difficult not to sympathize with hernot to fall in love with her, yourself.
The stimulating conversations, the lust-driven passion and explosive chemistry, and the turbulent drama will have you achingaching for a love that has strayed or a personal passion that's been forgotten. When two lost soulsthat aren't entirely sure of what exactly they're looking fortake the leap and promise to search alongside each other, there's nothing they can guarantee... just that they might end up finding it together.
Pros: Everything... seriously // Distinct, beautifully human, vividly drawn characters // Smoldering romantic tension and chemistry // Fluid plot and heart-wrenching curveball // Hilarious // Light, charming tone, but still gets deep and insightful where it matters // Hunt... oh lord ♥
Cons: I may or may not have lost a couple nights of sleep to stay up and keep reading this... but that happens with the best kinds of novels, no?
Verdict: Intoxicating, exhilarating, and cathartic in its probing, intimate revelations, this last book in the Losing It series hits it out of the park. Cora Carmack is now an auto-buy author for me. (I just bought books #1, #1.5, and #2, but that still won't be able enough!) We have two deeply flawed, deeply fragile characters who recognize a rare longing in each other; we have haunting pasts and bleak futures that teach us to live in the now; and we have an intensely burning, intensely complicated love story that will steal your breath away... Yup, it's been decided: Finding It is an exemplary new adult romance that all books of the genre should aim to even come close to be. Perfect. Just perfect.
Rating: 10 out of 10 hearts (5 stars): I'm speechless; this book is an extraordinarily amazingly wonderfully fantastically marvelous masterpiece. Drop everything and go buy yourself a copy now!
Source: Complimentary copy provided by publisher via tour publicist in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you, Harper Collins and TLC!).
Simply and shortly put: I. loved. this. book.
Now onto my long, possibly incoherent, and certainly unrestrained review. You've been warned.
Even the glamor of traveling through Europe alone and her daddy's limitless credit cards can't get Kelsey Summers out of her post-graduation slump. All the parties, the booze, the hot boys... they're distractions, but they're meaningless to her because she doesn't know what's wrong in her life. She's extremely privilegedblessed, even, with her Barbie-doll looks, theatre degree, and friends back home who love herbut she's unhappy, and what makes her unhappier is she doesn't know why. The bottomless, passionless pit she falls into can't be all there is to life, can it?
Then she meets the piercing eyes of a handsome stranger in a bar, and her world is turned upside-down. Life may not have been pretty before, but it also wasn't scary until ex-soldier Jackson Hunt came around... scary because for the first time in her life, she's met someone who ignites something inside of hersomeone who makes her want to bare the parts of herself that she thought she had long buried and thrown away.
Someone who threatens to love her even after discovering her secrets.
Carmack's gift for crafting the most flawedand thus beautifulof characters, is stunning. HUNT asdfasl;dflkasf I can't even begin to tell you how hard I fell for him. He is intricate in all of his worries and insecurities and mistakes, and the way I feel about him constantly alternates between I-love-him-so-much-he-is-perfection and fuck-fuck-fucj-why-is-he-fictional?!?! He's that kind of character. Kelsey is fun and flirty, and although she's a bit reckless and a bit irresponsible, she's mischievous, cunning, and absolutely divine; I loved her. She isn't a perfect narrator, but she's complex: a golden girl with an exquisite depth and charm to her that make her so real. She's always been the confident girl, the pretty girl, the one that was never afraid to be bold or brash or independent, but that might just be a role she's always playeda bit too well. And when Hunt slowly, agonizingly breaks through her thick skin only to reach an overwhelming, brilliant fire, he discovers this tendency to slip on the playful party-girl mask to cover up her worst of secrets and most worrisome of fears.
Both scarred and both searching, Kelsey and Hunt set off together in Europe without so much as a proper introduction, but that's what adventure isit's taking risksand that's what love is: it's putting your heart out there. Hunt's battle with self-control and Kelsey's battle with self-acceptance align just so they both recognize the hollows that need to be filled within one another. Their pursuit of a stormy, emotionally draining, but completely worthwhile relationship is invigorating, and it entails a flittering hope that maybe, just maybe, they might be able to teach each other to feel once again.
Kelsey and Hunt's voyage is both gorgeously scenic of Europe, and sweepingly romantic, which expertly demonstrate the magic of travel and the necessity of companionship. As walls begin to break down and an initially strained relationship softens, the pure tensionboth emotional and sexualwill make your heart flip and tumble and dance and sing.
The romance in Finding It is really something else. It's so hard to find such a realisticsuch an ugly but still glimmeringrelationship in new adult fiction: complex, soul-searingly deep, and painful at its lows, but absolutely dazzling at its highs. Carmack skillfully demonstrates the sharp, unexpected pain of letting someone into your heart after it's been tightly sealed shut, as well as the hopelessnessthe emptinessthe young-and-in-love experience when uncontrollable yearnings approach a startling revelation.
Carmack's writing is pitch-perfect, as wellanother thing I adore! Kelsey is snarky and coy in her narration, but at her most vulnerable points, she doesn't hold back from being perceptive, piercing, and very, very tender. It is tremendously difficult not to sympathize with hernot to fall in love with her, yourself.
The stimulating conversations, the lust-driven passion and explosive chemistry, and the turbulent drama will have you achingaching for a love that has strayed or a personal passion that's been forgotten. When two lost soulsthat aren't entirely sure of what exactly they're looking fortake the leap and promise to search alongside each other, there's nothing they can guarantee... just that they might end up finding it together.
Pros: Everything... seriously // Distinct, beautifully human, vividly drawn characters // Smoldering romantic tension and chemistry // Fluid plot and heart-wrenching curveball // Hilarious // Light, charming tone, but still gets deep and insightful where it matters // Hunt... oh lord ♥
Cons: I may or may not have lost a couple nights of sleep to stay up and keep reading this... but that happens with the best kinds of novels, no?
Verdict: Intoxicating, exhilarating, and cathartic in its probing, intimate revelations, this last book in the Losing It series hits it out of the park. Cora Carmack is now an auto-buy author for me. (I just bought books #1, #1.5, and #2, but that still won't be able enough!) We have two deeply flawed, deeply fragile characters who recognize a rare longing in each other; we have haunting pasts and bleak futures that teach us to live in the now; and we have an intensely burning, intensely complicated love story that will steal your breath away... Yup, it's been decided: Finding It is an exemplary new adult romance that all books of the genre should aim to even come close to be. Perfect. Just perfect.
Rating: 10 out of 10 hearts (5 stars): I'm speechless; this book is an extraordinarily amazingly wonderfully fantastically marvelous masterpiece. Drop everything and go buy yourself a copy now!
Source: Complimentary copy provided by publisher via tour publicist in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you, Harper Collins and TLC!).
