Book Reviews: Losing It by Cora Carmack and Charade by Nyrae Dawn.

Product details:
Publisher: Self-Published
Release date: October 15th 2012
eBook, 204 pages
Rating:  3½ out of 5.
Ages: 17+ || New Adult
Source: Purchased.

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 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.

 Bliss Edwards has a secret that nobody knows.  An almost-college graduate, Bliss is still a virgin – the only one among her friends.  For Bliss, this is a shameful little secret.  She’s desperate to lose her V Card, and if she can’t find Mr. Right, then Mr. Right Now will just have to do.  Bliss wants the deed over and done with, so that she can move on with her life.

Enter Garrick.  A seriously sexy stranger with a British accent that makes Bliss go weak at the knees, Garrick is just the kind of guy that Bliss has been waiting for, and so what if he insists on referring to her as ‘love’ all of five minutes after meeting her.  Side note: I found this really, really irritating, because nobody does that, and nobody gets away with it, not unless they are Klaus from TVD, but, its not something that seemed to bother Bliss, so, moving right on.  Bliss and Garrick get down to action, before Bliss’s nerves get the better of her and she bails just as things are getting hot and heavy.  No big deal, right? After all, Bliss knows that she’ll probably never see her hook up again, and she doesn’t, not until the next day when, on walking into her Theatre Studies class, Bliss is introduced to her new professor – you guessed it –Garrick.

After some initial awkwardness, the sexual tension amps up tenfold as Bliss and Garrick strive to fight their obvious attraction to each other.  But forbidden fruit is sweetest, and now that Bliss and Garrick have had a little taster of each other, they both want to take another bite.  Find out if Bliss and Garrick succumb to their desires, in Losing It, a fun and flirty read from Cora Carmack.

Product details:
Publisher: Self-Published
Release date: October 22nd 2012
eBook, 245 pages
Rating:  2½ out of 5.
Ages: 17+ || New Adult
Source: Purchased.

Nineteen-year-old Cheyenne tries to portray the perfect life to mask the memories of her past. Walking in on her boyfriend with another woman her freshman year in college threatens that picture of perfection.

Twenty-one-year-old Colt never wanted college and never expected to amount to anything, but when his mom's dying wish is for him to get his degree, he has no choice but to pretend it's what he wants too.

Cheyenne needs a fake boyfriend to get back at her ex and Colt needs cash to take care of his mom, so they strike a deal that helps them both. But what if Cheyenne’s past isn’t what she thought? Soon they’re trading one charade for another—losing themselves in each other to forget about their pain. The more they play their game, the more it becomes the only thing they have that feels real.

Both Cheyenne and Colt know life is never easy, but neither of them expect the tragedy that threatens to end their charade and rip them apart forever.

Nineteen year old Cheyenne lives her life behind a wall of secrets.  This carefully constructed wall keeps Cheyenne safe; it protects her from harm and ensures that everything in her seemingly perfect life goes to plan.  Finding her boyfriend of two years in bed with another woman was never part of the plan.  Devastated, but determined not to let her wall come crumbling down around her, Cheyenne constructs a plan to save face and get her own back.

Bad boy Colt can’t stand stuck up girls like Cheyenne. He doesn’t have time to play her silly games.   Colt’s got bigger worries on his mind, namely caring for his gravely ill mother. But Cheyenne’s offer is too good to turn down.  All he has to do is play at being her boyfriend for a while in order to piss off her douche ex.  It’s easy money.  Also, Colt can’t deny that Cheyenne is smokin’ hot.

Nyrae Dawn’s Charade has been on my radar for a couple months, and I couldn’t wait to read it.  I loved the premise of this one, but while I was expecting a light, fun, sexy read, that’s not what I got.   First of all, the ‘fun’ aspect of Charade never really happened, but that wouldn’t have been a problem if I had connected with the characters.  Unfortunately, I didn’t warm to these two. Cheyenne and Colt are two characters with some very big problems.  They’ve both got a lot of baggage.  It drags them down as characters, and I never could figure out why they were attracted to each other apart from the obvious fact that they are both hot.  For me, these two didn’t have any notable chemistry.  I didn’t like them together, nor did I like them apart.  Cheyenne is a difficult character to figure out, and even more difficult to warm to.  As for Colt, his male ‘voice’ didn’t work for me, nor did the fact that he chose to call Cheyenne his ‘Tiny Dancer.’  Maybe I’m missing the ‘cute and fuzzy’ chip that makes this sort of thing palatable, or maybe I just don’t do pet names.  I had high hopes for Charade, and while it was an okay read with some touching moments, overall this book just wasn’t for me.

 *****

Facade, the second book in Nyrae Dawn's Games series releases in Spring 2013.  This book will follow the adventures of Adrian, Colt's all-knowing stoner friend from Charade.  Here's the cover, as revealed by Nyrae Dawn on her blog a little while back: