Book Review: Losing It (Losing It #1) by Cora Carmack

Title: Losing It (Losing It #1)

Author: Cora Carmack

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Realistic-Fiction

Published: 15th October 2012

Format: Ebook, 204 pages

Synopsis: “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.” (Taken from Goodreads)

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Losing It is my first true read within the ‘New Adult’ category. While I’ve read many similar romances back when I still roamed around Fiction Press (don’t be fooled by the idea of self-publishing. There are a lot of brilliant stories on here eg. Sarah J. Maas started her publishing journey on this site), this novel is one that I really liked because of its characters. I think one of the hardest parts in writing for a NA audience is the fact that most of your readers are old and smart enough to discern the good from the bad. The author is attempting to sell a story with an idea and plot that must resonate with readers that are perhaps experiencing the exact same things as the main protagonist. Because of this, it becomes so much harder to fool the audience into believing that yes, this is what happens within the 18-25 bracket. So the story must first off be believable and true.

I believe Carmack did a great job in this sense by giving her readers a protagonist that many women can relate to. Whether your age is still within the NA age bracket, or younger/older, losing your virginity can be both a frightening and exciting topic. I don’t know when the whole ‘you must lose your v-card asap or be considered a prude’ idea started, but it’s overshadowed the whole act. Modern society these days are depicting sex as no big deal, but Losing It spits on that idea and I applaud the book for it. Sex is dependent on the person and whether you’re comfortable enough with your partner. Sure, we have Kelsey, Bliss’ best friend who doesn’t understand why Bliss can’t just lose it, but throughout the novel, we have been shown that Kelsey is completely comfortable within her own skin in contrast to Bliss.

This novel is essentially a story about Bliss feeling comfortable enough with Garrick, a hot English man who she left naked in her bed after changing her mind about a one-night stand, before they make love. While there are of course obstacles standing between them – him being her professor for a semester and all – we follow Bliss as she falls in love and makes the rational decision of when she is ready. Losing It is a very character driven novel, but its side plots are interesting as well. I picked up this book and managed to finish it in a matter of hours because I was hooked from the start. And let me tell you, some of the scenes were steamy.

This book is great because Carmack has created such believable and well-rounded characters that fit the age bracket they’re in. It was a fast but good read, recommended to all lovers of contemporary romance.

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Joy

Joy is the head honcho of Thoughts By J. Her favourite genres are fantasy, sci-fi, mysteries, and the occasional romance that makes her heart beat faster. You'll find she's quite sporadic with her blog posts, but will definitely find the time to reply to all your comments, and visit your blogs...it's just a matter of when.