ARC Review: Finding It (Losing It #3) by Cora Carmack

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: October 15, 2013
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
304 Pages

Sometimes you have to lose yourself to find where you truly belong...

Most girls would kill to spend months traveling around Europe after college graduation with no responsibility, no parents, and no-limit credit cards. Kelsey Summers is no exception. She's having the time of her life . . . or that's what she keeps telling herself.

It's a lonely business trying to find out who you are, especially when you're afraid you won't like what you discover. No amount of drinking or dancing can chase away Kelsey's loneliness, but maybe Jackson Hunt can. After a few chance meetings, he convinces her to take a journey of adventure instead of alcohol. With each new city and experience, Kelsey's mind becomes a little clearer and her heart a little less hers. Jackson helps her unravel her own dreams and desires. But the more she learns about herself, the more Kelsey realizes how little she knows about Jackson.

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Man, I am so bummed. After reading and enjoying Cora Carmack's first two novels in the Losing It series, I was expecting to adore the characters and plot of Finding It. I hate to say that for me, book three did not live up to the first two books and their characters. While I loved the awkward Bliss, and the adorable (and surprisingly sexy) Cade, I was unable to form any attachment to Kelsey.

Kelsey is traveling across Europe, living in drinks, pleasure and sexy men. Spending her daddy's money comes easily, but nothing can erase her childhood traumas and the loneliness she feels. When she meets the sexy, albeit mysterious "Hunt," she begins to realize that she was looking for adventure in all the wrong places and that sometimes you need to just stop and smell the roses. But the secret he's keeping may just bring her newfound happiness crumbling down.

Firstly, I could not connect with the main character, Kelsey. Her backstory is extremely sad, but I think a lot more could've been done with it to make for a fuller story and the ending--where nothing was truly resolved for her--really ticked me off. I wanted to see a hash out between Kelsey and her parents, but instead was extremely disappointed by the direction the author took. That's not to say that the direction the author took is unrealistic, it is, but it left me unsettled. Kelsey, as a character, never had my full attention either. She frustrated me constantly with her immaturity. She's selfish, and bratty. I could not get on board with this protagonist, besides in a few scenes where she really stuck it to Hunt. 

Secondly, it took forever to figure out these characters and most of their actions still have me scratching my head. The end of the book came before any kind of connection was formed, so I spent almost the entire novel with no interest in what happened to them. It took most of the story to learn anything about their backgrounds, and what we do learn felt very… forced. I had trouble lending my emotions to these characters, and that made Finding It very difficult to read.

Thirdly, I did not find Hunt swoony, rather the opposite. He annoyed me to my wits end because the author tried to make him so perfectly flawed. Something about him just nigged at me. There were several times when I wanted to smack this almost "holier-than-thou" attitude out of him. I did not understand why Kelsey was immediately so attracted to him. Plus his "secret" was obvious from the get go--and that did not help the book at all.

I liked the idea of this story, but I think the execution and characterizations were off. It didn't sit well for me, and I'm extremely disappointed because I loved the author's previous works. Will I read more of Carmack's work? Most likely. I think she writes a very entertaining story. Finding It just wasn't for me.

I received an e-copy of this novel from the publisher for my honest opinion and review via Edelweiss.