Losing It
(Losing It, #1)
Author: Cora Carmack
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2013
Genre: NA Romance
Buy: Amazon ♥ B&N ♥ TBD
Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, Bliss Edwards 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.
The blurb says it all. I picked up this book because I was a theatre kid in high school and college…and because the last line of the blurb sent me into hysterics. I just had to know how this was going to work. There was also the desire to understand “what this new adult thing was,” and this seemed like a good way to find out.
So I started reading, and I’m glad I made this my intro to NA. Bliss’s voice is fun and engaging. Oh, and she’s hilarious. I laughed out loud through most of this. She has a kind of self-deprecating humor mixed with a light sarcasm that makes the character relatable. I don’t read much romance, but I finished this one in two days.
Let’s talk about the love interest, Garrick. Bliss meets him in a bar, okay, but get this. She meets him while he’s sitting alone reading Shakespeare. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d go for that in a heartbeat. Icing on the cake, he’s British. I think British accents are awesome and kind of wish I had one. Also, British guys are wonderful to listen to, which was a plus toward liking this book.
I was hooked for the first two thirds. Post Bliss and Garrick admitting their feelings (and Bliss pulling away because…student, professor), the story lost me. An epidemic of mono hits the campus. Bliss and Garrick both fall ill, and when they get better, everything’s good between them again. It just felt too convenient and not enough like they had to work out their problems.
The rest of the story was believable, though, and I felt at home with the characters. It’s great to see Bliss grow and become more confident as both a person and an actress. The part of the book that takes place at the cast party is so realistic. I know all the feelings in that scene (bitter sweet and awesome), and they made me miss the stage so much. Go theatre kids!
Favorite Quotes:
We booked it to the Fine Arts building, breezing past the hipster Art majors smoking outside the doors. We jogged down the hallway to find that sure enough, the doors to the small black box theatre where we had acting class were already closed.
"Shipoopi," Kelsey said.
Then ... because we're theatre majors ... we broke into the song from The Music Man. Because sometimes life just needs a little music. (But we did it quietly and on fast-forward because we were still late for class).
