Review: Faking It by Cora Carmack

Faking It

(Losing It #2)

Author: Cora Carmack

Publisher: William Morrow & Company

Publication Date: June 4, 2013

Genre: New Adult/Contemporary

Source: Purchased

~Synopsis~

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.

Due to sexual content, this book is for mature audiences, 18+.

~Review~

I love a “good boy meets bad girl” plot and Faking It was all that and more. Of course, I read Losing It and was instantly a fan of Cora Carmack and her writing. I wasn’t a huge fan of Cade in Losing It so I was glad to get to know him more in Faking It because I am actually quite fond of him now. Unlike Losing It, this book is written in dual POV and it was perfect. Max and Cade are seemingly so different and we need to be inside both of their heads to really get into their story.

Cade is a genuinely good guy and he has just had his heart obliterated by Blair and Garrick. He saw this perfect future he had always longed for and Blair was the perfect girl for that dream. I felt bad for him because it tore him apart to see her with Garrick but I admired the way he sucked it up for Blair. As much as it hurt him, he didn’t push her away or stop being her friend and he also befriended Garrick. Cade is instantly intrigued by Max and I loved the fact that what turned him on about her are all the ways she’s different from Blair and his idea of the “perfect” girl.

Max is awesome. She is smart, beautiful, and outspoken. She isn’t afraid to be herself or tell it like it is, well except around her parents. Max is carrying around a burden of guilt that causes her to completely change when she’s around her parents. She wears conservative clothes, covers her tattoos and completely changes. I feel bad for Max because she has so much pressure from her parents to be someone she just isn’t and she complies with their demands when she is around them. Cade sees both Max’s and he pushes her to be herself and show her parents who she really is because she’s someone special. Her feelings and attraction for Cade scare her.

I am a sucker for a plot where a relationship starts out fake for the pretenses of parents and morphs into something real and special. Faking It didn’t disappoint me there. Cade and Max are instantly attracted to each other despite how different they are. Cade is the “golden boy” and Max is the opposite. Despite the misconceptions that their physical appearance leads people to, Max and Cade see right through each other and down to the person they each are. Cade is lonely and chasing a dream that he’s had since childhood and his parents left him. Max is pretending to be someone she’s not for her parents out of guilt. I liked that Cade was attracted to the real Max and she made him feel things that Blair never did. She is definitely not the type of woman he ever thought he’d be with but she is exactly the woman that he really needs. Cade is different than every guy Max has dated and this scares her because she could see herself really falling for him. Max builds walls and Cade fights furiously to break them down. I hated that he just let her go when she ran. This was typical Cade fashion and I wanted him to fight for her. When he got his second chance, he stepped up an did just that. The moment he finally shattered Max’s walls, I was elated.

This was another fabulous Cora Carmack book and has much as I loved Bliss and Garrick, I think I’m an even bigger Cade and Max fan. The chemistry between them was palpable and very hot and steamy. They say opposites attract and Cora proved just that with Cade and Max, thought they were more alike then either could have ever thought. I loved the way Cora took a less than spectacular character from Losing It and morphed him into a book boyfriend I could love forever.

~IPOD Picks~

“Anything Could Happen” by Ellie Goulding

“Lose Myself” by One Republic

“Let Me Love You” by Ne-Yo

PURCHASE LINKS:

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE