Friday, October 18, 2013

Keeping Her (Losing It #1.5) [Bliss Edwards & Garrick Taylor] by Cora Carmack

This is a very romantic sweet story of Bliss and Garrick. It's about a year after they moved together to Philadelphia. on the table is their first meeting with Garrick's parents in London. They are both VERY stressed about it since Garrick's mother isn't a very agreeable person and in general both his parents didn't approve of him leaving London and pursuing his interest in acting.  

I guess I read this one in the "wrong order" since this book was published after Faking It (Losing It #2) but it doesn't matter because it doesn't mention any of Bliss's friends anyway. 

I liked that this novella has both their POVs. In the first novel I think it would have been cool to know what Garrick was thinking through all the "crazy" that is Bliss :) but it's not that I felt it was missing (I'm just being snoopy ;)). In this story since we are talking about his family and friends it was good to have both their prospective. It was nice meeting Garrick two best friends from his childhood/adolescence since till now we didn't have anything of him / about him from his past or even present (well, he was new in Texas...) 

His problems with his family, to me, seems like misunderstanding of an adolescence. He left home at the age of 20 to pursue his life as he wanted to live it. It's not that his parents are "monsters" / doesn't care about him. and now, 8 years later I think he "gets" them so it felt "all for nothing" to me. His parents are not perfect but no one is.. 

What happens between Bliss and his mother (no spoilers! :)) didn't seem probable to me. I couldn't "see" it in my eyes. 

The thing that REALLY annoyed me, is something he keeps saying to her. I'm not gonna write it (no spoilers :)) but it was extremely sticky. In "real life" I would see it (and actually did! :D) as forced in a way. Like trying to get approval when feeling uncertain. In my eyes its not "sweet" its just smells like lack of self confidence with a dab of wanting attention and her affirmation of her love for him. 

I wrote in the previous review that for me, they feel like teenagers or close to it. I'm not that far from 28, and, Garrick, with the experience he had, sounds a lot younger. She is about 23 I guess, which maybe, with her (lack of) experience can be a little "childish" with relationships. But still, they feel too-young adults.

I'm giving it 4 stars though I think that it deserves 3.5 from my personal reading experience because most of my problem is them being as I said "too young adults" and since this is a YA novella, its fitting. But I expect more from adults.. (23-28 are adults to me ;)), If they were 5 years younger, I would have found it more fitting to their behavior


Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 100 pages, 15-17 October 2013 / On GoodReads
 
 
 ABOUT THIS SERIES
 
Losing It is a Young Adult / New Adult series by Cora Carmack. The series evolve of 3 friends, each novel introduces them to their Happily Ever After. 

In the first one we meet the "gang" while they are in College studying acting (Texas) there the first couple is formed. The next one takes place in Philadelphia to where the (not so new by now) couple move with the main character of the second novel. The third one takes place in Europe where the main character is backpacking and where she meets her HEA.  

In my opinion each book can be read as a stand alone since though we met the 3 characters in the first book, on the next ones they don't play THAT a big role for you to need to know their past relationship and what you need to know is explained. Besides, the timing of the second and the third kind of overlap so it doesn't really matter which you read first.

Most of the series is written by a single POV, meaning the first ("Losing It"), the third book ("Finding It") and the finishing novella ("Seeking Her"), but the second one ("Faking It") as well as the first two novellas ("Keeping Her", "Inking Him") are written with alternating POVs of the MC. I think that in general I rather have alternating POVs to singular one enabling me to get the "whole story" and not only because of that - the second book was my favorite of the bunch. Really loved both the MC and enjoyed getting to hear both their voices throughout the book. 

I find it hard to classify this one, it's somewhere between Young Adult to New Adult. While the first one felt like a true Young Adult novel (which annoyed me a little) where the romance was sweet yet somehow childish in certain aspects and also very "fresh" since the main heroine is a somehow an insecure virgin, the second one felt more mature which I enjoyed much more. The second one also has the "coming of age" concept that we usually find in a NA book. The third one is somewhere in the middle, it has the "coming of age" vibe that feels like a NA novel, yet to get there you have to bear through quite a lot of silly and teenagery behavior before the main heroine decides to put aside the liqueur and have some mature decisions. 

This series is simply a joy to read. You spend half the time Laughing Out Load and the rest just enjoying the easy going writing and the beautiful love story. 
I should add that the novellas in between aren't a must have and in my opinion are not as good as the full novels. So, you can just stick with the 3 main ones.
Recommended!

Books:
1. Losing It [Bliss Edwards & Garrick Taylor] (published 15 October 2012) ★★★★½
1.5 Keeping Her [Bliss Edwards & Garrick Taylor] (published 13 August 2013) ★★★★
1.6 Inking Him [ Bliss & Garrick bonus short story ] (published 23 April 2014) ★★★★
2. Faking It [Mackenzie “Max” Miller & Cade Winston] (published 4 June 2013) ★★★★★
3. Finding It [Kelsey Summers & Jackson Hunt] (published 15 October 2013) ★★★★
3.5 Seeking Her [Kelsey Summers & Jackson Hunt] (published 28 January 2014) ★★★½
 
 

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