10 Heart Review: Finding It by Cora Carmack

Finding It (Losing It #3)
Cora Carmack

Page Count: 307
Release Date: October 15th 2013
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (Harper Collins)
Source: Complimentary copy provided by publisher via tour publicist in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you, Harper Collins and TLC!)
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Sometimes you have to lose yourself to find where you truly belong...

Most girls would kill to spend months traveling around Europe after college graduation with no responsibility, no parents, and no-limit credit cards. Kelsey Summers is no exception. She's having the time of her life... or that's what she keeps telling herself.

It's a lonely business trying to find out who you are, especially when you're afraid you won't like what you discover. No amount of drinking or dancing can chase away Kelsey's loneliness, but maybe Jackson Hunt can. After a few chance meetings, he convinces her to take a journey of adventure instead of alcohol. With each new city and experience, Kelsey's mind becomes a little clearer and her heart a little less hers. Jackson helps her unravel her own dreams and desires. But the more she learns about herself, the more Kelsey realizes how little she knows about Jackson.

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Review

"You scare me," I said.
His brow furrowed, and his mouth opened, but no words came out. He took a breath and then very slowly said, "You have nothing to be scared of. I won't... I wouldn't. I'll help you get to bed, and then I'll leave, get another room."
He thought I didn't trust him... that he might do something.
"Not that. I don't think that."
"Then why do I scare you?"
"Because I don't want you to see."
There was a small part of me that knew I should shut my mouth, that I was saying things I shouldn't, but that part of me felt like it was on the other side of a cement wall. It was too far away and too hard to understand.
"See what?"
He shouldered open a door and I answered simply, "Me."

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 privileged—blessed, even, with her Barbie-doll looks, theatre degree, and friends back home who love her—but 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 her—someone 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 flawed—and thus beautiful—of 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 played—a 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 is—it's taking risks—and 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 tension—both emotional and sexual—will 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 realistic—such an ugly but still glimmering—relationship 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 hopelessness—the emptiness—the young-and-in-love experience when uncontrollable yearnings approach a startling revelation.

Carmack's writing is pitch-perfect, as well—another 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 her—not to fall in love with her, yourself.

The stimulating conversations, the lust-driven passion and explosive chemistry, and the turbulent drama will have you aching—aching for a love that has strayed or a personal passion that's been forgotten. When two lost souls—that aren't entirely sure of what exactly they're looking for—take 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?

Love

Before there had been attraction and maybe friendship. And those things were there still, but had morphed into something more. The attraction was stronger and tinged with the darkness that only comes when you can't have what you want. 

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 

10 hearts: I'm speechless; this book is an extraordinarily amazingly wonderfully fantastically marvelous masterpiece. Drop everything and go buy yourself a copy now! (x)

8 Heart Review: The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

The Lost Wife
Alyson Richman

Page Count: 334
Release Date: 6 September 2011
Publisher: Berkley Books (Penguin Group)
Source: Complimentary copy provided by publisher, via Romancing the Book, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you both!!)
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

A rapturous new novel of first love in a time of war

During the last moments of calm in prewar Prague, Lenka, a young art student, and Josef, who is studying medicine, fall in love. WIth the promise of a better future, they marry—only to have their dreams shattered by the imminent Nazi invasion. Like so many others, they are torn apart by the currents of war.

Now a successful obstetrician in America, Josef has never forgotten the wife he believes died in the war. But in the Nazi ghetto of Terezín, Lenka survived, relying on her skills as an artist and the memories of her hustand she would never see again. Then, decades later and thousands of miles away, an unexpected encounter in New York leads to an inescapable glance of recognition, and the realization that providence has given Lenka and Josef one more chance.

From the glamorous ease of life in Prague before the occupation to the horrors of Nazi Europe, The Lost Wife explores the power of first love, the resilience of the human spirit, and our capacity to remember.

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Review

The Lost Wife is lush with historical detail but doesn't read historical; it reads like the stories your mother used to tell you at bedtime, or a frail, time-worn journal you serendipitously come across in the attic. Embarking on the childhood and golden years of Lenka, the ethereal, maternal beauty—in Prague in all its glamor, 1934—this Holocaust novel evokes both the rapturous European lifestyle before the Third Reich, and the horrific and chilling concentration camps of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and Germany during World War II.

A tragic parting of lovers sets the desolate, desperate tone in Lenka and Joseph's individual tales as they each relearn to live during the war; Joseph, struggling to survive without Lenka, and Lenka, struggling just to survive. The book is composed of a beautiful back-and-forth exchange of lives that continued in the aftermath of this separation: the suffering, the dullness, the grayness, the hunger, the emptying. The Lost Wife isn't so much about romance, as it is about love—about lovers who once went wholly, completely right—that withstands the test of time and the brutality that is life.

Lenka is strong and a stubborn character, but I felt way too detached from her. She is the embodiment of how powerful the bonds of blood are, and very admirable in values, but I just couldn't connect with her or her choices. Through her eyes, readers glimpse at the injustices of Terezín and the horrors of Auschwitz, the compassion of a wife, and the duty of a daughter. Joseph is more relatable, but I couldn't stand his one-track mind. He's always loved Lenka, I understand, but how can a human be as static as to say he never loved anyone after her—not even his second wife? Human minds are more complex and open than that, in my opinion; I wish his life after Lenka had been portrayed more colorfully because that would have mystified—totally eternalized—their reunion.

This reunion is what magically brings these interwoven stories full circle. The glimpse of a smooth, white neck. The recollection of those strong, sturdy hands. The familiar glint in the eye. That are all it take for the two lovers to recognize each other—sixty years and several lifetimes after being wrenched apart.

Tastefully and delicately crafted with Alyson Richman's golden words and brimming with historical facets of the prevalent anti-Semitism throughout WWII-era Europe that oughtn't be remembered, but deserves to be exposed, The Lost Wife relays so much significance. Among the penetrating insights, include the sanctuary and solace of art, and of course, music; the danger of propaganda and how even a motherland will go to far lengths to deceive; and the ultimate triumph of a survivor: their story.

Pros

Real, raw characters // Lyrical, moving prose // Gorgeous and scary depiction of life during wartime // At times graphic, at others, tender—both frightening and redolent // Conveys the beauty of memory // Heartwarming true love // Reunion aspect is astonishing // Memories are sensual, lethargic, and dreamy

Cons

Lenka and Joseph are each a bit off... I couldn't sympathize with them completely

Love

Richman's voice is just stunning... 

Is this what a kiss from the man you love feels like? All fire and heat. The color purple. Indigo. The blue red in our veins before it meets the air.

If those we love visit us when we dream, those who torment us almost always visit us when we're still awake.

... in order to survive the foreign world, I had to teach myself that love was very much like a painting. The negative space between people was just as important as the positive space we occupy. The air between our resting bodies, and the breath in between our conversations, were all like the white of the canvas, and the rest of our relationship—the laughter and the memories—were the brushstrokes applied over time.

Verdict

Eloquent in tone and stirring in message, The Lost Wife is a Holocaust novel with sentiments on family, love, and survival. Sophie's Choice meets Atonement in Richman's exquisite story about impossible lovers—the most perfect of lovers. It is at once haunting and elegant, symbolic and graceful, and in the end, is the kind of book that'll make your heart clench and your breath shudder 

8 hearts: An engaging read; highly recommended (x)

♥♥♥♥♥♥: Lost in Italy by Stacey Joy Netzel

Lost in Italy
Stacey Joy Netzel

Release Date: October 25th, 2011

Publisher: CreateSpace (self-published)

Page Count: 345

Source: Complimentary copy provided by author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you!)

Life is a little different unscripted...

Halli Sanders spent two years planning the trip of a lifetime to Italy. Her itinerary did not include being stranded by her siblings, kidnapped by a sexy American movie star, dodging bullets, or fleeing criminals in a car chase around Lake Como.

Trent Tomlin put his movie career on hold to investigate his brother's murder-ruled-suicide at his Italian villa. He's closing in on the suspects when Halli unwittingly films the murder of the retired cop helping him. The killers will stop at nothing to get the evidence—including holding Halli's family as collateral.

Thrust into the role of real-life hero, Trent finds himself falling for the Plaine Jane whose beauty blossoms with every challenge they face. But can he keep the evidence out of the wrong hands and get justice for his brother without betraying Halli and her family?

It's every girl's fantasy to go to a foreign country—one as dazzling and romantic like Italy, at that—and fall in love with a stranger. It's every girl's fantasy to be that one girl for an overrated, over-hotpants movie star, the one that he falls for without knowing it, and the one that's hard to get. Lost in Italy combines these two scenarios to make up Halli and Trent's story.

In that respect (meaning, regarding plot), I feel this novel is a bit farfetched. The situation just seems highly unlikely: first, that Halli would just coincidentally run into Trent Tomlin, who's apparently an even bigger deal than Tom Cruise, and second, that he would fall for her "plain Jane"ness. It is extraordinarily rare for men to go after the plain type. Maybe Halli is different in that she doesn't throw herself on him at their first meeting, but I feel there's nothing that marvelous about her that would make a guy like Trent fall for her.

I'm not saying I don't like her character, though. She's a strong, stubborn, and determined member of Lost in Italy's cast, and I do have a sense of respect for her. I just think Netzel does a poor job convincing me that Trent's affections for her are plausible. They're genuine, all right; you can see it in Trent and Halli's interactions that he really cares and that deep down, she cares as well. However, it's just the synopsis itself that has me doubtful.

The action seems a little forced. Don't get me wrong, the aspect of danger and the thrill is adrenaline-pumping, but there are places I felt were a little weak in the rush. The situation seems more riveting than the actual action; the situation, meaning, a murder caught on camera and the convicts who will go to every length to destroy the evidence.

One thing I did enjoy was how there are secondary plots outside of Trent and Halli's romance (or rather, Trent's doggish pursuit of Halli, considering she doesn't really budge for him until the last quarter of the book). There's a steamy forbidden attraction involving the enemy, someone on the side of Halli's predators, and of course, the entire blackmail/ransom story itself. Netzel's style is clear and to-the-point, which makes Lost in Italy a fast read, but not a very fascinating one.

On another note, something that is pretty exciting is that I'm quoted in the book! A portion of my review for Shattered Trust made it to her review pages in the back:

Yippee!! And on the back cover too!!!

What an honor to be featured in a publication.

As much as I love the cover ;) I do have to say I'm disappointed with Lost in Italy, considering how much I enjoyed her other novel. This book just didn't do Netzel justice; I feel it isn't an accurate representation of her (usual) work. Maybe it's the improbable storyline, or maybe it's the noticeably flavorless writing style; nevertheless, I can't really gush about this one.

Stephanie Loves: "'And how about dessert?'

The moment the words left his mouth, he could've kicked himself for not keeping the question to himself. In the close confines of the boat, with her recently showered fresh scent lingering in the air like it had in the car, his mind immediately flashed back to the scorching kiss at the Villa Melzi that morning. The one at Simone's had been nice, too, but it'd ended badly—how could it not with a gun involved?—and, that one certainly didn't make him crave a long, slow, hot dessert like the one in the garden did. His mouth actually watered as he fiddled with the camera in his hands.
'Sponge cake with fresh fruit and cream.'
He made a noncommittal noise, still vying for control over his over-imaginative mind.
'You want something else?'
She was bent over, digging pots and pans and a cutting board from his small cupboards. He eyed her tempting curves and said, 'Nothing you'd go for.'" — whooooooo-ee! This was sizzling.

Radical Rating: 6 hearts: Satisfying for a first read, but I'm not going back. ♥♥♥♥♥♥