Review: Losing It

Title: Losing It (Losing It #1)
Author: Cora Carmack
Publisher: Ebury
Released: 28th March 2013
Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Bliss Edwards hates the fact that, at 22, she seems to be the only one amongst her friends who is still a virgin.  She hates it even more when she admits the fact to Kelsey, one of her best friends.  Kelsey is determined to help her change this and, resigned, Bliss agrees.  The two of them go to a bar, and it is here where Bliss meets Garrick.  He's sitting at a table reading Shakespeare, and they strike up a conversation.  Instantly she knows that he's the one she'll be losing her virginity to.  They talk, head back to her apartment, make out.  Everything's going fine...until she panics at the crucial moment, makes an excuse and flees.  She's humiliated, but can at least feel safe in the knowledge that no-one will ever know and she will never see him again.  Until, of course, she walks into her drama class and sees her new professor.  It's the same guy she ran from the night before.

The pages flew by while I was reading this.  I'd glance down at the percentage every now and then and be astonished by how far I'd read, and I have Bliss is to thank for that.  She's awkward in an adorable way, and also quite hilarious.  She had me laughing so much right from the start.  I was worried I might not like her because of how much she was fretting over her virginity, but that was soon dispelled.  It was Kelsey who I ended up not liking, though I knew I would even before I started.  If she was truly Bliss' friend, she would have been assuring her that not having sex was fine and that it was important to wait for the right guy.  As it was, Bliss ended up following her own instincts and making her own decisions, and I was glad for that.  It was nice to see her come to accept herself more, as well.  Having theatre as a backdrop worked really well for this, and this could have been worked into the story even more.  But I think Carmack deliberately kept this light and easy, and that was absolutely fine.

Now, I know Garrick is the one you're all swooning over.  Hot British professor, and all that.  And I liked him, I really did.  He was funny, sweet and he had an interesting take on Shakespeare.  I liked seeing him and Bliss together, and I was terrified that someone would find out about them and it would all go wrong.  But...I don't know.  There was something missing that stopped me from going into full swoon mode.  I'd blame it on the accent - I'm British, so it has no effect on me - except that doesn't stand as a good argument since some of my British blogging friends love him, too.  Whatever the reason, I wasn't able to connect with him on a level that had me truly loving him.  What I will say, however, is that the epilogue is pretty much perfect.  Of course, there were a lot of ways his plan could have gone wrong, but it was possibly my favourite part of the entire book.

Whatever impressions I had on starting this, Losing It turned out to be a light, fun read.  There was room for this to be something deeper, but Carmack stayed away from that side, and I genuinely didn't mind.  Even so, this wasn't just about a girl trying to lose her virginity.  I enjoyed the relationship between Bliss and Garrick, and I appreciated the difficulties they had.  I'm definitely glad I got to read this.