Title: Faking
It
Author: Cora
Carmack
Publisher: William
Morrow
Publication Date:
6.4.2013
Pages: 304
Genre: New
Adult, Contemporary
Series: Losing It #2
Source: Finished
copy at BEA
Rating: B+
Summary (from Goodreads):
Mackenzie “Max” Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town
for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings,
they just might disown her. Even worse, they’re expecting to meet a nice,
wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a
band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she
meets Cade.
Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he’s kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they’re forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.
Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he’s kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they’re forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.
Review:
Having
met Cade in Cora Carmack’s first book, Losing
It, I was very, very excited to see he was getting his own romance in Faking It. Faking It is definitely Cade’s
book to shine and he just does it well.
I love that he’s just one of those genuine good guys. He’s a realistic guy. He
isn’t perfect, but he isn’t given to alpha-male doucheiness on a regular basis
the way so many guys in new adult fiction are now. Cade is that guy that you
can’t help but fall for, so it’s no wonder Max falls hard for him.
Let’s
talk about our girl Max. There were a few hurdles that I tumbled over on my way
to loving this girl. First was her penchant for violence. I’ve never been a fan
of the dramatic face slap—you know that part where a girl gets so worked up she
slaps a guy’s face and this is sometimes construed as romantic? It’s not, OK?
It’s abuse and it’s domestic violence. It just somehow doesn’t get called this
when a girl slaps a guy. If Cade had slapped Max twice in
the face? Everyone would be burning their books.
The
second issue, and maybe this is just me, but I’m simply not a fan of when a
character or person is emphatic about
their nickname. It’s not like they were calling her Hitler, OK? But Max got so
insulted and up in arms when people called her Mackenzie, it just made me roll
my eyes. If you hate the name so much, legally change it then!
Those
two issues aside, I did come to enjoy Max and the way her relationship with
Cade unfolded. Carmack is a fantastic story teller and she has this amazing way
of crafting a plot that is both grounded and fantastical all at once. Fans of
the new adult genre need to get on board with Carmack and quickly. It’s no
wonder her signing line at BEA this past year was the longest author signing
line I encountered throughout the whole expo. She’s that good.
Buy: Amazon
We discussed the face slaps and you know I agree - I think it's just as unacceptable to a girl to slap a guy as for a guy to slap a girl, so Max did lose points there. BUT, overall I did like her and I loved her relationship with Cade (post-slap obviously). And her parents? Cracked me up when they came to visit, but I did want to give them a talking to about what they were putting their daughter through!
ReplyDeleteI've heard wonderful things about Losing It, so I have to start there :) Great review!
ReplyDeleteThe way you described Max makes me reallllly dislike her. I still want to read this one, though. Unfortunately the eBook sale is not in Canada (grrr), so I've put it on hold at the library.
ReplyDelete