Review: Losing It by Emma Rathbone

Book info:
Title:  Losing It  
Author:  Emma Rathbone
Genre:  Romance
Published:  July 19th, 2016
Source:  ARC requested from publisher, Riverhead Books

Synopsis:
Julia Greenfield has a problem: she's twenty-six years old and she's still a virgin. Sex ought to be easy. People have it all the time! But, without meaning to, she made it through college and into adulthood with her virginity intact. Something's got to change.

To re-route herself from her stalled life, Julia travels to spend the summer with her mysterious aunt Vivienne in North Carolina. It's not long, however, before she unearths a confounding secret—her 58 year old aunt is a virgin too. In the unrelenting heat of the southern summer, Julia becomes fixated on puzzling out what could have lead to Viv's appalling condition, all while trying to avoid the same fate.

My Review:
When I first saw this on Edelweiss, I got so excited that I immediately emailed the publishers and asked if there was any way that they would send me a physical ARC of the title.  I mean, come on, how funny does that synopsis sound?  I'm a little sad to say that the book didn't quite live up to my expectations. 

While the story itself was really good, I mean I totally identified with a lot of the thoughts the main character, Julia, had, the humor was really pretty subtle and not as laugh out loud as I'd hoped for.  While I don't have the same issue she had, it has been a long time, and I'm maybe a born-again one of what she is.  In fact, if I hadn't made the friends I did in college, there was probably a pretty good chance that I could have ended up like Julia, or at the rate I've been going since college was over, like her aunt Viv! 

Julia talked at one point about wondering if she let off some kind of scent or sense of being desperate to the people around her, men especially.  And I remember a guy I had a summer job with when I was in college, that said I had the words, "Marry Me" on my forehead.  Meaning that I was looking for a boyfriend.  Yeah, I might have been, but what girl isn't for certain parts of her life?  And then there is the part where she mentions that people always say it is easy for a girl to get laid, not true, the way this book described the whole situation with Julia was so true. 

Unfortunately, the title made me go into it thinking there would be lots of episodes of Julia meeting guys and trying to lose her virginity, in funny little scenes.  There were a few examples of this, but not in the way that made me really laugh very much.  I smiled, and nodded in understanding with her online adventures, as well as workplace adventures, but that was about it.  There were times that I just didn't understand why she did what she did, especially if her goal is to have sex. 

Then there was her aunt.  Her aunt was very quirky, and at times pretty funny. But, there was so much that was just kind of random, and never really tied into anything, or contributed to the actual plot.  I would like to have had some more about that in the story.  

But, I can see that many people who enjoy a more subtle read will probably enjoy this, and I definitely am very glad that the publisher sent it to me to read.

Audiobook Review: Losing It by Cora Carmack

This was my next audiobook that I downloaded for free from the public library.  And while the way the guy looks on the cover is a little creepy/pasty pale for me (yes I know it's part of the story that he's so pale because he's British), the guy in the story was definitely a good one!  Cora Carmack is another author I've heard a lot about, along with Colleen Hoover, in the New Adult genre of books.  And I have to say that this book did not disappoint.  I loved it, and can't wait to read the other books in the series, as well as more books by her. 

Now, the title of this is the same as an ARC I told you about a couple weeks ago that I had emailed and begged the publisher for, Losing It.  However this is a different author and story, even though there is the small smidgen of similarity in that both are about a girl who is still at a virgin at an older age. 

In this one, the main character is a college senior named Bliss.  Bliss is a virgin, and her best friend has helped her to decide that it is time for her to get that out of the way.  So they decide to go out and find her the perfect guy at a bar at the beginning of the book.  At the bar she first sees the bartender, who is cute, and seems to be flirting back with her.  When she heads back to the bathroom, she notices a cute guy sitting by the pool tables reading Shakespeare.  She's a bit tipsy at this point, using alcohol as a way to smooth away her nervousness at this big step.  She teases the guy that the only reason he would be reading Shakespeare at a bar is to try to pick up women.  When he responds, with an English accent no less, she ends up staying and talking to him, and finding that maybe this guy, his name is Garrick, is who she will pick for her first.  They end up taking his motorcycle back to her apartment, because he had locked himself out of his own, and was waiting for the locksmith to come.  Things are getting very hot and heavy, everyone is pretty much undressed, and suddenly, Bliss freaks out, and leaves him, claiming that her cat is at the vet and she has to go pick it up.  She runs out of her apartment and goes and hides around the corner of the building, watching the door of her apartment to see when he will leave.  About 10 minutes later, he does finally come out.  And she's horrified to see that he just walks over to the building across the way, he lives in her apartment complex! 

Then she goes into school the next day, she's an acting major, and things get worse.  Turns out that Garrick is her new professor.  At first they try to fight it, with Bliss trying to avoid him so that she won't be embarrassed.  But soon the two of them figure out that maybe they can't fight it.  Of course, she still doesn't give away about the sex thing with him.  She waits.  And in the end, will it work out with him?  Or will she keep running away from all that scares her about the act.  Will Garrick be able to put up with all the pushing away she does?  And what about her guy friend, that decides to confess he does like her as more than a friend. Will she try seeing how things go with him?

It was a very sweet story, and I liked most of it. Although Bliss did annoy me at some parts.  Things she did that I can't imagine doing, things that messed things up in her relationship with both Garrick as well as her friendship with the other guy.

A sweet read, and I look forward to reading/listening to more books by Carmack in the future.