Faking It

4.5 stars — It’s been a LONGGGGGGG time since I read Losing It, and I don’t know if I really remember it well. If I’d planned better, I probably would have wanted to reread it before reading this one, but I don’t think you lose that much by not doing that. I can honestly say that I forgot the whole Cade subplot in the previous book though, and it’s making me curious…if nothing else, it makes me wonder if my opinion would have been different if I’d read them closer together and remembered the Cade from that book. I ADORED the Cade in this book. He starts off very heartbroken and lost and almost morose. But I could feel how caring he was as well. I can’t imagine how hard it would have been to try to maintain a friendship with Bliss with all that hanging over their heads. I appreciated how he grew over the book, and how his new feelings for Max really showcased that what he felt for Bliss wasn’t the same kind of love. He was so sweet, and kind, but also really passionate and grrrrr sexy. I loved that combination of quiet, but with strength underlying. I will admit that his turnaround at the end felt a bit quick, but that might have been just me. I LOVED that he always saw the real Max, and that he loved the REAL her. This was truly a case of opposites attract, but Max was quite different. It’s funny, because she put out this strong personality to the world, but underneath she was hiding a vulnerable core. It was so hard to watch her constantly keeping people at a distance so as not to get hurt by loving them…she would say it was because she was protecting them from herself, but I feel like deep down she was protecting herself. And with good reason. It was hard watching her relationship with her family, b/c you could understand all sides (even though they all behaved badly at times)… They were just trying to survive while under a cloud of fear. I thought the turnaround at the end with her parents was a bit fast as well, but at the same time I understood the swing a bit more…and Ms. Carmack tried hard to show that it was just a start. I LOVED Max and Cade together. It’s funny how they both saw themselves as lacking, but the other as someone better who they didn’t want to taint, or didn’t think they fit with. And yet they fit perfectly together. The chemistry between them was amazing, both in the steamy sense (holy wow) AND in the deeper connection sense. I loved those quiet moments when Cade knew exactly what Max needed, and they could just be there for each other. I loved their bantering too. I definitely want to go back and reread Losing It now, because I think this might be my favourite series by Ms. Carmack. It just fits me as a reader, you know?

It took me less than a day to read Losing It, that book was so good! However, I started this one immediately after and it just wasn't the same. The characters, while complex, bored me to tears. Bliss and Garrick were dynamic and hilarious. Max is infuriating because she is unrealistically guarded and Cade is so flat. I just can't get into it like the first book. I won't be wasting my time with the last book.

Unfortunately, I read Faking It directly on the heels of Losing It, and it's impossible not to compare the two. In fact, I loved the first book so much that I was dying for more, so I guess in that sense I went in with really high expectations. But where Garrick and Bliss were both sweet and hilarious, where I spent just as much time laughing at Bliss's antics as I did swooning over Garrick, Faking It, while sweet, lacks a lot of that crazy fun. I imagine if I picked this book up entirely on its own, without having a clue about the story that came before it, I probably would given it a higher rating, but since I picked it up primarily because I wanted more of what book one so perfectly offered, I ended up being a little disappointed. Faking It is a sweet, solid love story, and it's great to see Cade get his well-deserved happily ever after, but I wanted the insanity of the first book, and it didn't really carry over into this one.