Review + Giveaway: Losing It

Losing It
Losing It, Book 1

Author: Cora Carmack
Pages: 288
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: YA Books Central for review

Description from Goodreads:
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.

First Sentence: "I took a deep breath."

Review:

Of all of the New Adult-labeled books I've read, Losing It is the one that comes closest to being what I ideally want. Though the focus remains on romance, Losing It does actually deal with normal, everyday college stresses. Bliss goes to class and thinks about her future. She has fights with friends and doesn't go through anything incredibly melodramatic. Only the relationship with her professor isn't something an average college student might experience, but even that does happen. Losing It is humorous, romantic, and largely realistic.

The term slut-shaming gets tossed around a lot in book reviews, and it's certainly a big problem in fiction, which tends to really uphold virgins as the ideal. For those who object to the word 'slut,' I'm warning you that you will likely be offended by a handful of moments in Losing It. However, something that I've not really seen in fiction before and that Carmack handled perfectly is virgin-shaming, which is just as real.

Bliss Edwards is in her senior year of college, age 22, and a virgin. The book opens with Bliss' confession to her best female friend, Kelsey, that she's never had sex. Bliss feels embarrassed and stunted for not having had this experience that most people her age have had. Now, as much as slut-shaming is a serious issue in our culture, Americans are just as uncomfortable with virgins. At a certain point, admitting you've not had sex marks you out as a freak. Around the end of college, somewhere from 20-22, being a virgin begins to feel like an onus one bears. People start making assumptions that you've incorrectly identified your sexuality (perhaps you're gay and afraid to admit it or asexual) or that you must have something terribly wrong with you. I know I feel this stigma in my own life.

Carmack completely captures the feeling of being behind the curve on this, and how an attractive, social girl with a sex drive could put sex off. The way Bliss thinks about things and explains her lack of sex life are completely accurate to my own experience. In theory, sex is great, but the idea of actually having to have it is terrifying, because she likes to be in control of everything she does. She worries, too, about her lack of experience compared to others her age. Surely if she has sex now she'll be terrible at it, a thought horrible to contemplate. She also references being able to shut down her analytical, judgmental brain, which has always thrown her out of the mood. All of this is exactly how my own brain works, and I've spoken with friends who think the exact same way.

At the beginning of Losing It, Bliss has decided she's sick of feeling a freak for being a virgin and that she just wants to get rid of her virginity. This impulse, as well, is one that I completely understand. Sometimes it feels like life would be much easier if you could just get that over with, like it's an ordeal to be got through, which really doesn't seem like the ideal motivation for having sex. Still, that's a realistic thought for Bliss to have.

When you're a virgin over twenty for reasons that don't involve waiting for marriage, people like to tell you that "it will happen for you when you meet the right guy." Find him and your brain will shut up, and you'll be motivated enough to work through your issues and eventually have sex. This is the basic premise that Losing It is working from. I do take some issue with the fact that she goes out to a bar once and immediately picks up a hot, British guy, because life is never that easy, at least mine isn't, in which case I would like to upgrade my life now please. However, this is fiction, and such conveniences are what move a plot forward, so I'll accept it.

What I'm so, so grateful for is that, even though Bliss has found the perfect guy who makes her brain shut off, that doesn't immediately make her ready. Garrick may be more than she ever dreamed of, and she feels more comfortable with him than with anyone who has come before, but she still freezes at the prospect of sex. Her issues don't just magically dissipate, like generally happens in fiction. Though she had every intention of having a one-night stand, her brain really isn't wired that way to let her do that, thus why she was still a virgin in the first place.

Of course, for drama's sake, Garrick turns out to be a temporary professor for one of her theater classes. This serves to raise the stakes and create many awkward moments. For a teacher/student relationship, Carmack's done a good job, and I was still able to root for them, since they established a relationship of sorts before he started teaching, but I still would have preferred they wait to really get together until after the semester was over. Teacher/student romances are not my favorite, because the teacher has power over the student and favoritism comes into question. Carmack avoids the grading favoritism question, but Garrick does seem to be largely fair in his treatment of her as a teacher.

I liked, too, the short-lived love triangle that emerges when Bliss realizes that one of her best friends has a crush on her. I've been in this situation before too (well, the friend with a crush, not the sexy British part that makes the triangle), and it is seriously awkward. There are so many feelings in the way that it can be hard to tell precisely how you feel about you're friend. You love them already, but is it the right sort of love? And they're so wonderful that you feel bad turning them down. Plus, what will happen to your friendship if you do or don't? Bliss handles this about as well as can be expected, which is to say that it's messy and uncomfortable.

Garrick and Bliss do seem to fall for one another a bit too quickly, but that's college as well. Every emotion seems heightened, because you have so much free time to spend with people. Friendships and relationships come on quickly in those circumstances. The novel takes place over the course of a semester, so their relationship does take months to grow, even if it feels shorter because of the novel's brief duration.

I do wish, however, that Carmack has skipped the epilogue. Though I was willing to accept the speed and seriousness of their relationship, I feel like the events in the epilogue were over the top. Plus, I'm really unsure as to why it had to be from Garrick's POV. That felt really out of place, and didn't really add anything to the scene.

I have to reward Losing It high points for covering subject matter I've rarely seen touched in fiction and for giving me many feels. Carmack's debut is funny, awkward, sexy, and romantic. If you've been disappointed in the New Adult offerings thus far for not having anything actually to do with the experience of being in college, then you really might want to try Losing It.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: "How can people decide who they want to spend the rest of their life with at this age? I can't even decide what to have for dinner! I couldn't decide if I wanted to be an actor, even though I already had $35,000 in student loans telling me I sure as hell better want to be an actor."

Giveaway:
My new giveaway philosophy is to give away only my very favorite reads, so I'm offering up a paperback of Losing It to one of my readers. This contest is open internationally, so long as The Book Depository ships to your country.

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