Review: Faking It (Losing It #2) by Cora Carmack

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. ~ Goodreads

Source: ARC/review copy received at BEA via the publisher – William Morrow & Company

Review:
Faking It is the companion novel to Carmack's Losing It, Book #1, in the Losing It series. In Losing It, Bliss and Garrick were the main love interests. Cade was Bliss's BFF and had finally confessed his love to her only to be turned down as she chose Garrick.

I barely remembered Cade from that book and what little I did didn't leave a huge impression on me. I guess he seemed dorky, maybe a little cute but HOLY MOTHER OF BOOK GUYS! Cade in THIS book is HOT. He’s still super sweet but way more confident than I was expecting. Bliss honey….you missed out and good for Mac for seeing just what an incredible catch he is and not letting him get away!

As you may have guessed Faking It starts out with the familiar fake relationship trope. Sometimes it works and sometimes it stretches plausibility. Here it works. Mainly because once they pass the initial fake relationship to meet the parents part the facade is over and they embark on something more serious. There’s an attraction but they are so different…Mac calls Cade Golden Boy because of his all American good looks and ability to perfect almost anything he tries, while Cade is envious of Mac's ability to take on the world without caring what anyone thinks. But at the core they are the same, protecting themselves from the inevitable loss of those they love.

What's nice about Faking it is that, yes, there's the requisite angst because Cade and Mac scare the shit out of each other but they also push back against their fear because they know they make each other better so it's worth taking the jump.

I enjoyed Losing It. It was laugh out loud funny but I felt it got a little convoluted near the end. I LOVED Faking It. This was a tighter story. A tad darker than Losing It but balanced with a perfect touch of humor.

I had a few minor quibbles. Mac sees Cade as perfect and doesn't think she deserves him and Cade sees Mac as this wild, untamable free spirit to help him take chances. I really enjoyed the opposites attract angle but it almost felt like they liked the "idea" of each other rather than the reality. Like this was their fantast choice in a partner. I say this is minor because once you get to the heart of their story they could not be more perfect for each other.

Also, I had hoped Cade would stand up to Mac's crazy, interfering parents in her defense more. But again, I was won over in the end. I think it's better and more believable when a character (especially a female) can do that for themselves and the whole thing played out very nicely.

One more point and I'm done! lol Bliss and Garrick make an appearance (yay!) and I thought it was great that Carmack didn't just write Bliss out of the picture in Cade's mind once Mac showed up. It's handled so well and realistically.

Final thoughts: I adored this book as well as Mac and Cade. Faking It is SO filled with sexual tension, without being overly graphic, heartfelt moments and humor scattered throughout. Mac is vulnerable yet strong and Cade….oh my…Cade! What a pleasant surprise. I'm so glad Cora Carmack saw more to you than I did and gave you your own book!

Author: website | Twitter
Buy the book! Amazon

BEA 2013…..the food post (aka – the one y’all keep buging me to post) Warning! It’s loooong

I tried to get my BEA book post up in a timely fashion but then you’re all…where’s the food post?? I want the food p*rn post! SO demanding!! lol But here you go!

I promise to take a real camera next time because my phone takes the worst pictures, especially in low light conditions.

My first welcome to NYC snack was from my hotel – warm chocolate chip cookies from the Double Tree Inn



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The BEA breakfast of champions. Or more commonly known as…the only food available at Javits Center that early in the morning.



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But my favorite place for breakfast is Good Enough to Eat. No matter what I order it is always delicious. Plus the have strawberry butter to go with their fresh biscuits! Can I just say that bacon pictured was the best bacon I’ve ever had. It was thick, crispy and cooked so perfectly it melted.



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We wanted to try a few new places this time so we stopped for dinner at The Meatball Shop. (excuse my bad photos – low lighting made for blurry pics)



Each table has an erasable menu with a marker. You start by checking off the “naked balls” of your choice – beef, pork, chicken. veggie or the special, then pick your sauce and your sides.

The meatballs were good but it was the side dishes that were a standout. We got beef & pork meatballs – tomato & mushroom sauces with mashed potatoes, a cold roasted vegetable salad with a lemon vinaigrette (that was SO good!) and spinach.

Then dessert! You can make your own ice cream sandwich by choosing your cookie & then your ice cream. We made one using ginger snap cookies with vanilla ice cream YUM.

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Another new discovery was Café Blossom, a vegan restaurant that a friend of mine had recommended. I’m not vegan but I love my veggies and grains too! We loved this place so much we ate at two of their locations, on two different nights.



We had Garlic Herb Gnocchi (not pictured) AMAZING, a quinoa salad with black beans, veggies & a guacamole topping, Smoked BBQ Tempeh with potato salad and fresh pico de gallo which was delicious! Cheesecake (meh) and chocolate mousse (yum) for dessert. The next night we brought a friend and had Roasted Vegetable quinoa, Seitan Marsala, Fettuccini Alfredo.

I highly recommend this place whether you’re vegetarian or not.

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We also tried a few new snack food places...

Bee’s Knees Baking Company. They have cake in a cup! We had the Chocolate Salted Caramel (the most popular flavor) and Honey Bourbon (which was so strong that I’m pretty sure I got drunk from it)



Pie Face – mini pies – both sweet and savory. We bought a several sweet pies (pumpkin, chocolate cream cheesecake and apple crumble) but I would love to go back and try more! If you ever go you MUST try their Aussie iced coffee! Iced espresso blended with ICE-CREAM! Why are we not doing this in the US???? It’s a travesty. It would kill the Frappuccino.

 

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Two places we MUST go to every NYC visit is Tea & Sympathy for my scones and clotted cream (not as gross as it sounds – promise) and Magnolia Bakery. I’ve tried a lot of cupcakes in NY but these are still my favorite. I like the size and delicate texture with  the fluffy buttercream frosting. They remind of the cupcakes my mom used to make when I was a kid. I also got their banana cream pudding this time. It’s made with nilla wafers which apparently everyone thinks is unusual but that’s how my mom made it all the time when I was a kid. the recipe is right on the box.

  

I do want to try this place the next time we visit NYC. I was just all cupcaked out at this point. I know…shocking! lol But I guess even I can have too many cupcakes.



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Eataly the restaurant/ Italian food Disney like theme park boasting Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich as partners. It’s crazy busy there and overpriced but the food is top quality and delicious.

We had a cheese/meat sampler, then pasta & pizza – ummm….forgot to take a picture first. It was good.

 

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Shake Shack! I can not go to NYC and NOT get Shake Shack. They have the best hamburgers and shakes. YUM. YUM. YUM.



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And the last place we went to was a totally new experience for me that I’ve been dying to try. My hubby & I were lucky enough to be invited to Dim Sum with Pam Midnyte Reader and Kate – Midnight Book Girl. Dim Sum intimidated me because I have no idea what the food is. Pam had been before but the rest of us were newbies at her mercy.



The place was HUGE with food being carted around and you choose what you want to share with the table. A lot of of it is in dumplings so you have no idea what is inside. It’s a gamble (even though they tell you, it’s a generic answer– like pork. Okay but what part of the pig exactly??) I just kept saying – no chicken feet!

It was a little overwhelming at first and there were a few misses but almost all of it was amazing! Especially the dumplings (pic – top rt). OMG –they look bland but are so sweet and delicious. I also asked for tofu (pic – bottom rt) , expecting those firm cubes to mix with rice and Pam brought me a bowl of what could best be described as gelatinous, chunky goo. She had this face that said…hey – this is what you asked for lol Since I ordered it I decided to give it a shot. It was SO good. Really creamy like a dessert with a sweet honey flavor. We all ended up loving it. HUGE surprise.

I really have to try Dim Sum again. I will investigate it further beforehand though so I’m not as intimidated and (hopefully) know what I’m asking for.

So that’s it guys! I love BEA and all the books but thing I look forward to most is the food.

Book Blogger Confessions: BEA/ALA

 

Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that posts the 1st  Monday of every month, where book bloggers "confess" and vent about topics that are unique to us. Feel free to share, vent and offer solutions.

Just keep it respectful - no bashing authors or other bloggers! If you want to participate just grab our button and include it in your post with a link to either Midnyte Reader or For What It's Worth. We will be providing a linky at the end of our posts so people can "hop" to see all the participants answers.

Question: BEA, ALA. Have you ever been before? If you've been before, share your experiences; both pro & con. If you haven't gone before, do you participate in online events like Armchair BEA? Do you hope to go one day? Do you feel too intimidated to go? Are you jealous of the big book hauls and tweets during the events? (question from Julie – My 5 Monkey’s)

I have been to BEA several times and the Mid-Winter ALA once. I love going. When I’m there in the midst of it I can get rather grumpy. The lines are killer and the days are long but once it’s over and I get to sleep for a few days I’m already looking forward to next year. If you’re looking for a nice way to chat with authors and calmly peruse books, BEA is not it. ALA was slightly calmer but it can get crazy too. Even so, I really enjoy going and have met wonderful people. You just have to go in with the right attitude and not worry about trying to get ALL the books. 

The pros: Meeting other bloggers and getting to chat with authors and of course – the books!
The cons: LONG lines and aggressive people. Possibly the cost. Those free books aren't’ really free after you pay for flight/hotels/food etc.

I think Armchair BEA looks like a lot of fun and way more informative than the real thing. I sort of envy you guys who participate sometimes. You probably get to connect with each other more than those of us who attend the real thing.

I was incredibly intimidated the first year but once you figure out the layout and realize the authors are so nice (& even kind of nervous themselves) it’s easy. Most people worry most about not knowing anyone but that’s the LEAST of your problems. You will meet so many people while you’re stuck in line lol

Since I get the book hauls I can’t be jealous of anyone else lol Just speaking in general terms I don’t get jealous of book hauls. Life is too short to worry about what other people are doing and I always have too many books already anyway. Sometimes I get a little envious of people attending the Romantic Times convention. It seems to me that they actually have time to meet authors, attend awesome panels and spend time with each other. Not just running around like maniacs all day. That sounds lovely to me. Even if I didn’t get one book out of it.

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Hey everyone! Pam and I are a changing the frequency of Book Blogger Confessions to just the first Monday of every month. We’ll announce the next month’s topic at that time.

Question for Monday, July 1st:

Author interactions. Have you ever emailed an author to tell them you loved/disliked their book? As a book reviewer, do you think we should cross that line?
Do you mind when authors re-tweet or comment on reviews? Does that intimidate you in any way in regards to review writing, knowing that they may be reading it?
Do author interactions - both pro or con - change how you view their work?

Book Blogger Confessions follow up post: Book Tours/Guest posts

Last week we discussed book tours and author guest posts for Book Blogger Confessions. I mentioned in my answer that I have run into a few issues and came up with guidelines that I send to authors first to avoid any miscommunications.

Quite a few people asked about it so I decided to post them here. I try to keep it short and simple but I’m always reevaluating and updating the guidelines as I run into new situations. For example I recently added the – it must be an original post – line after seeing the same guest post on several blogs. I will probably also be adding something about a timeframe for receiving a post. I’ve been getting them too close to the wire lately and I find myself scrambling to format the night before it’s scheduled.

I hope it helps. The authors seem to appreciate it because often they aren’t sure what will work for each blog either and I am willing to be flexible if it would make for a better post.

Let me know if you have anything to add or any thoughts on the guidelines in general.

Guidelines:

-The feature would consist of an original guest post.

-Length: approximately 500-700 words. (Does not include author bio/book summary) Topic of your choice but please keep in mind that I review books of all genres, including YA, so no overly graphic language or sexual content.

-You must include your own links/author bio/photos/ when you send me your post if you want them included.

-If you include purchase links, please keep them to no more than two.

(*Note – this may not seem like a lot but I was getting 8-10 links included sometimes and I think readers glaze over at that point. Agree? Disagree?)

-Feel free to include a giveaway but it is not required. If you do please let me know if it's US/International and what format (print/digital etc)

Topic reminder for Monday June 17th:

BEA, ALA. Have you ever been before? If you've been before, share your experiences; both pro & con. If you haven't gone before, do you participate in online events like Armchair BEA? Do you hope to go one day? Do you feel too intimidated to go? Are you jealous of the big book hauls and tweets during the events?

* More information about Book Blogger Confessions here.

BEA 2013 wrap-up!

Another BEA has passed and I survived! It seems like a badge of honor these days with the increasing crowds.

I am really happy to report that I felt like the overall behavior of bloggers, librarians and publishers was MUCH better this year. Sure, there are always a few people that get pushy or greedy but overall I felt there was a sense of camaraderie and cooperativeness about getting books rather than being competitive and downright nasty as I’ve witnessed the past few years.

I made a point this year to spend more time talking to my fellow bloggers and meeting up with friends. I got fewer books this year than in the past but even what I got is too many. You don't think you have that many until you get home and go oh f*ck! The few books that I had accidently grabbed duplicates of (I have my hubby with me so it happens a lot) I brought back much to the shock of the publishers lol

Every year Book Expo America seem to get more organized. Publishers have almost everything scheduled now. That’s kind of a blessing and a curse. It’s very difficult to schedule all the signings and book drops since almost everything has a line starting one hour before. Unless we invent cloning technology stat, you just can’t be everywhere at one time. On the other hand – schedules mean people aren’t storming a publisher booth trying to trip people to get a book.

Allegiant seemed to be the YA book that was being pushed the most even though it wasn’t there much to everyone's disappointment. Veronica Roth was there signing posters and speaking at the author’s breakfast so a lot of people expected a surprise drop of the book. I figured they wouldn’t just because they were so stringent on book #2.

Soooo…I was really horrible about taking pictures this year but here are a few pics of the books I picked up this year.


These are a few that I went to BEA really wanting. Several of my friends loved Reboot by Amy Tintera so I’m looking forward to that one. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell was the LONGEST line (for a booth signing) that I was in for all of BEA – it was crazy - but she was SO nice!. I wanted The Coldest Girl in Cold Town by Holly Black because how awesome is that title??? And Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles because she hasn’t had a book out for awhile.


I fell in cover love with these books. I didn’t know a thing about any of them but they all sound so interesting.

Reality Boy by A.S. King
The Beginning of Everything by Robn Schneider
Ink by Amanda Sun
Eat, Brains, Love by Jeff Hart
The Ward by Jordana Frankel

Here are all the books in pile form…





I didn’t bother with too much swag this year but I did grab a few fun things.



I’m Always Book Tipsy book bag from Sourcebooks, Parasite by Mira Grant swag including hand sanitizer from Orbit Books.

Mustache on a stick. Not sure what that was for but it seemed like a fun way to torture Figment when I got home. I think he’s saying…Mom & Dad went to BEA and all I got was this lousy mustache.

The best part was talking to my blogger friends and making new ones even if it’s while we’re stuck in a line or passing each other by to run to the next line…at BEA it’s ALL about the lines!

I realize this is probably the lamest – most boring BEA post I’ve ever written but I got back from BEA, was home for one day and had to take a three day road trip so I’m beyond tired. Apologies! I’ll try to do better with my BEA/NYC food wrap-up post. I think that’s more requested than my book one anyway.